CDC MMWR, 2008-2009 Flu season mortality for large cities, USA, 2009

The point shapefile shows total number of deaths caused by flu/pneumonia as well as deaths due to all causes during the flu season of 2008-2009 for selected cities that have 100K or more population. Typically the flu season spans the winter months, according to NIH website the period starts in late October of a year and end the following year at the end of March. The weekly data collected by MMWR is a "voluntarily" submitted by selected cities (roughly 122) on the number of deaths reported due to all causes as well as number of deaths by various age groups and deaths due to pneumonia and influenza.

There were nearly 24,000 deaths due to flu/influenza during this flu season in about 115 cities. CDC estimates total number of deaths at 40,000.

Compared to this huge number of deaths, the Swine flu has caused less than 100 deaths.

Elsewhere on Finder! you may find weekly flu deaths for these 115 cities. Use key word "Flu" or "Influenza" to search for the file.

The data for each week was downloaded, georeferenced and then summed up to get totals for the flu season. The shapefile also shows percent of flu deaths as share of all deaths by cities.