FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 28 , 2013 file photo, Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, reacts as he receives a flu shot from Tyler Poncy, a licensed vocational nurse during a free flu vaccine clinic at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Health officials say the worst of the flu season appears to be over. The number of states reporting intense or widespread flu dropped again in late January 2013. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest flu numbers on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
February 08, 2013 - 10:16 AM
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Health officials say the worst of the flu season appears to be over.
The number of states reporting intense or widespread flu dropped again last week. By some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks. Deaths from the flu or pneumonia have been dropping for two weeks.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest flu numbers on Friday.
This flu season started about a month earlier than normal. Outbreaks began in the late fall, and the dominant flu strain is one that tends to make people sicker.
It's been nine years since a flu season started like this one, and that proved to be one of the deadliest. So far, this season has been labeled moderately severe.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013