The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that the number of reported cases of flu in the United States is rapidly increasing, according to the Washington Post.
The government agency noted that this year's flu season started early and is dangerously close to becoming an epidemic.
As of Dec. 20, 2014, about 15 individuals under 18 years of age have already died because of the flu.
"Right now, all of the CDC's influenza surveillance systems are showing elevated activity," the agency's flu division said in a statement.
For this flu season, the hospitalization rate has risen to 9.7 for every 100,000 people. This is significantly higher compared to last year's 4.3 per 100,000 flu rate, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The University of Kansas Hospital reported on Tuesday that over 25 flu patients have already been admitted to the facility. Two deaths were also reported because of the virus.
"Our medical director said that in his eight years at the hospital, he had never seen double digits," the hospital's spokesperson Jill Chadwick commented.
The flu strain currently circulating has been identified by the CDC as the A H3N2 virus. In early December, CDC Director Thomas Frieden warned that the strain may lead to a spike in flu-related deaths and hospitalizations.
"This flu is unpredictable," he said in a statement. "This is likely to be an H3N2 predominant season...and H3N2 predominant seasons tend to have ore hospitalizations and more deaths."
A vaccine has been developed in February 2014 to combat the virus but in March, medical experts discovered that the H3N2 has mutated.
This means that the vaccine will not be as effective in stopping the H3N2 strain.
In addition to the ineffectiveness of the vaccine, the CDC fears that a supply shortage may worsen the spread of the flu virus.
The CDC had already notified pharmaceutical firms regarding the increasing number of flu cases in the country but the sudden and huge volume of demand may be too much to provide everyone with the vaccine.
