Science Friday

Why Are Flu And Other Viral Infection Rates So High This Year?

25 Feb 2025

Audio

Description

It’s been an unusually tough winter virus season. Rates of flu-like infections are higher than they’ve been in nearly 30 years. And for the first winter since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, flu deaths have surpassed COVID deaths. Add to that a higher-than-average year for norovirus, a nasty type of stomach bug.Then there’s the emerging threat of avian flu. While there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus, about 70 people in the US have contracted the virus from livestock since April 2024.To make sense of the latest viral trends, Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, epidemiologist and author of the newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist”; and Dr. Erica Shenoy, chief of infection control at Mass General Brigham hospital.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Transcription

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Help us prioritize this episode for transcription by upvoting it.

0 upvotes

🗳️ Sign in to Upvote

Popular episodes get transcribed faster

Other episodes from Science Friday

Transcribed and ready to explore now

Inside the Nebraska quarantine facility responding to hantavirus

29 May 2026

Science Friday

Surveying wildlife along Lewis and Clark's route, 220 years later

28 May 2026

Science Friday

Pope Leo's encyclical on AI, and the Vatican science advisors

27 May 2026

Science Friday

Bizarre exoplanet clouds + Counting insects with weather radar

26 May 2026

Science Friday

A trailblazing geneticist reflects on her life and work

25 May 2026

Science Friday

Is that spooky old house full of ghosts, or just infrasound?

22 May 2026

Science Friday

View all episodes from Science Friday

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.

Report any issue

Science Friday

Why Are Flu And Other Viral Infection Rates So High This Year?

This episode hasn't been transcribed yet

Other episodes from Science Friday

Inside the Nebraska quarantine facility responding to hantavirus

Surveying wildlife along Lewis and Clark's route, 220 years later

Pope Leo's encyclical on AI, and the Vatican science advisors

Bizarre exoplanet clouds + Counting insects with weather radar

A trailblazing geneticist reflects on her life and work

Is that spooky old house full of ghosts, or just infrasound?

Sign in to Audioscrape

Share this moment