Preliminary analysis suggests there was little excess mortality associated with influenza.
Also during November and December, sporadic type B influenza virus isolates were recovered in California, Texas, and West Virginia, primarily from children or young adults. Some nursing-home outbreaks of type B influenza were reported. Morbidity reports by family physicians exhibited temporal and geographic trends consistent with other indicators of influenza activity. Preliminary analysis of pneumonia and influenza mortality from 121 cities did not indicate a consistent, statistically significant rise above the rates expected in the absence of an epidemic. Failure to detect excess mortality would correspond with this season's paucity of reported outbreaks of influenza among the elderly, the group that usually is most vulnerable to severe influenza infection.