This past few months, America has witnessed a harsher than normal flu season. It hit earlier than normal and it seems to last longer than normal. More people than normal were coming down with the flu and higher than normal numbers of seemingly healthy people were dying from the flu, including a large number of children and seniors.

Part of the reason for the really bad flu season was that the vaccine appeared to be about 30% effective, far less than most years, partially due to the number of different strains of flu and partially because of the fact that the flu strain used to create the vaccine had mutated and changed enough over the past 9-11 months that made the vaccine defenseless in stopping this year’s strains.

Hooray, the CDC has reported that for the sixth straight week, the number of flu cases being reported continues to decrease.

“As of March 17, the CDC said, 2.7 percent of patient visits to doctors were for the flu, down from 3.3 percent of patient visits the week before.”

That is definitely good news indeed, but wait, there’s more and it’s not good news.

While many are say hoorah, others are saying Oh No, as round two seems to be unfolding. As some predicted might happen, a second round of flu is hitting and this time, it’s mostly Flu Virus B, which is different from Virus A and its variations that made the rounds earlier.

Many of the symptoms of B Virus are similar to those of the A strains, but some may be different, so here is a list of general symptoms associated with B strain:

One of the first symptoms is a fever. It will generally come on quickly, but fevers tend not to be as high with the B strain as with the A strains. Adults will tend to have lower fever temps than children. The fever is associated with body aches and fatigue.

The B strain is often accompanied by a sore throat, runny or stuffy nose. Sometimes it can lead into a cough which could develop into bronchitis and even pneumonia.

B strain flu is often referred to as the ‘stomach flu’ as it leads to loss of appetite, nausea and vomiting.

The treatment for the B strain flu is basically the same as that for the A strains that plagued the nation for the past 4 or so months.

The CDC and other medical experts are still recommending that if you have not yet gotten a flu shot that you should. The vaccine was designed to work with both the A and B strains and after all, even if it only reduces the chance of getting sick by 30%, that’s better than 0%.