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An estimated 80,000 Americans died of flu and its complications last winter — the disease's highest death toll in at least four decades. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, revealed the total in an interview Tuesday night with The Associated Press. Flu experts knew it was a very bad season, but at least one found the size of the estimate surprising. (9/26)

The number of deaths last winter is higher than any flu season going back to 1976-1977, before which there is not easily available data, according to the AP. Last winter's flu was particularly active. “For the past three weeks, the entire country has been experiencing lots of flu all at the same time,” Dan Jernigan, a top CDC flu official, said in January. (Sullivan, 9/26)

The 2017-2018 season was also marked by high severity across all age groups -- the first season where the CDC found that to be the case.Overall, the effectiveness of the seasonal flu vaccine for last season was estimated to be 40%. This means the flu vaccine reduced a person's risk of having to seek medical care by 40%, the CDC found. (Scutti, 9/26)