{"id":233658,"date":"2026-01-08T05:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/233658\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T05:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T05:26:07","slug":"new-flu-strain-raises-health-concerns-in-idaho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/233658\/","title":{"rendered":"New flu strain raises health concerns in Idaho"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BOISE, Idaho  (CBS2) \u2014 A new strain of influenza is posing a significant health risk in Idaho, with doctor visits for the virus reaching a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gethealthy.dhw.idaho.gov\/infectious-diseases-seasonal-flu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> 15-year peak<\/a> in December, according to an article by  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestatepublicradio.org\/health\/2026-01-07\/idaho-flu-record-doctor-visits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Boise State Public Radio<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> Dr. Christine Hahn, Idaho\u2019s state epidemiologist, highlighted the novelty of this flu strain in the Treasure Valley. &#8220;Our immune systems haven&#8217;t seen anything quite like it for, uh, maybe ever. Um, and so that always makes us worry about a bad flu season,&#8221; said Hahn. <\/p>\n<p>She noted that fewer people are getting immunized, partly due to prioritizing COVID-19 vaccinations. &#8220;Even though that flu vaccine may not work 100%, studies have shown in the United Kingdom, where they&#8217;ve already had a large flu outbreak, that the vaccine is keeping people out of the hospital,&#8221; Hahn said.<\/p>\n<p> Vaccination rates are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/schoolvaxview\/data\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">declining<\/a> in Idaho, with the Centers for Disease Control reporting the state had the lowest rate of kindergarteners vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella in the country last school year. <\/p>\n<p>This week, the CDC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/press-room\/cdc-acts-presidential-memorandum-update-childhood-immunization-schedule.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reduced the number of vaccines<\/a> recommended for children from 17 shots to 11. Hahn emphasized that it&#8217;s not too late to get a flu shot or prescription antiviral, as the flu season typically lasts through March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) \u2014 A new strain of influenza is posing a significant health risk in Idaho, with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[103,397,396,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-233658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-healthcare","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}