Washington • It’s flu shot time, and health officials are bracing for a potentially miserable fall and winter.
The clues: The Southern Hemisphere, especially Australia, was hit hard over the past few months with a flu strain that’s notorious for causing severe illness, especially in seniors.
And in the U.S., small clusters of that so-called H3N2 flu already are popping up.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen but there’s a chance we could have a season similar to Australia,” Dr. Daniel Jernigan, influenza chief at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press.