Chances are, if you’ve been following the news over the past couple of days, you’ve heard reports that the flu season in the U.S. is off to its earliest start in nearly a decade and it could be the worst we’ve experienced in a while.  

During the 2003-2004 flu season, one of the most lethal seasons in the past 35 years, the dominant flu strain was influenza A (H3N2), similar to this year.  Historically, flu seasons where H3N2 was the predominant strain have been more severe, with higher numbers of hospitalizations and deaths.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 76 percent of this season’s reported cases have been of the H3N2 strain.