BATON ROUGE — Medical experts say that Louisiana is already seeing one of the highest rates of flu in the United States, even with the peak of flu season still months away.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most of the country is still seeing low to minimal flu activity; Louisiana, however, along with Hawaii, is seeing higher levels of flu activity.

"Louisiana and Hawaii are seeing moderate levels of flu-like illness activity, so we're seeing more than almost all of the rest of the United States here in Louisiana," Dr. Fred Lopez with LSU Health New Orleans said.

Lopez said this flu season has started much earlier than usual, and a particular strain of influenza is causing many of the cases.

"Right now, almost all of what we're seeing is this H1N1 subtype, and it does seem to have picked up a mutation relative to the H1N1 seen last year," Lopez said.

H1N1 is also known as swine flu. According to the latest data from the Louisiana Department of Health's laboratory surveillance program, the current rate of positive influenza tests in Louisiana is 8.3% for the week ending Oct. 23. For comparison, the week of Oct. 25, 2025, the rate was only 5.3%.

"Louisiana is a very flu-vulnerable state year to year because we have low vaccination rates against the Flu and because we have a higher proportion of our population that's medically uninsured," Lopez said.

Experts like Lopez and Mary Winfield, director of the West Baton Rouge Parish Health Center, say getting a flu vaccine is the best form of protection.

"We also tell people that they can talk to their local health unit, their doctor, or even a pharmacist, but we do encourage that you get your annual flu vaccine," Winfield said.

"It is included in this year's flu vaccine, so even if it's not an exact match because of a mutation, it's still going to decrease the risk of hospitalizations and deaths from the flu," Lopez added.

Lopez added that the CDC says "it is too early to know exactly what's going to happen and whether we're going to have less efficacy from the flu vaccine that's being used for this flu season, which does include the H1N1 strain."

With Halloween this weekend, Lopez and Winfield recommend washing hands before going out and practicing good health habits.

"I would definitely say carry a personal hand sanitizer so that way you don't have access to soap and water, but you can hand sanitize in between contact with people," Winfield said.

Lopez said once someone gets a flu shot, it takes about two weeks for immunity to develop, and he recommends getting it before the end of the month or the first week of November.