Flu season arriving early in US, amid warning of a fast-spreading 'super flu' variant

The number of flu cases across the country is on the rise, following a global trend that is now reaching the U.S., say health care professionals.

Britain, Australia and Japan have already reported spikes, in what has turned out to be an early flu season, according to The New York Times. 

Some of the areas seeing the biggest spikes so far include New York City, Denver and New Orleans, according to The Times and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s tracker.

The dominant strain of the flu virus circulating this season is H3N2 subclade K – a variant of the common H3N2 strain that appears to have a characteristic that enables the virus to spread more widely.

Flu shots this season were not specifically created to prevent people from contracting that strain but are still being recommended by some health care providers.

New York City last year didn’t have 10,000 laboratory-reported cases of flu until late December, but this year the city reached that number three weeks ago, The Times also reports.

“It’s earlier and faster this year, and the trajectory is much quicker than usual,” the chief of public health and epidemiology at Northwell Health told the newspaper about is being referred to as the "super flu."