Boston declares health emergency amid U.S. flu outbreak

BOSTON (Reuters) – With flu cases in this city up tenfold from last year, the mayor of Boston declared a public health emergency on Wednesday as authorities around the United States scrambled to cope with a rising number of patients. U.S. health authorities say the flu arrived about a month earlier than usual this year, and the flu strain making most people sick – H3N2 – has a reputation for causing fairly severe illness, especially in the elderly. As a result, hospitals around the country have been forced to find additional space to treat the ill, and some have had to turn people away. …