Two new influenza-related deaths were reported in South Dakota last week, including one in Pennington County, bringing the state total to 19.

The South Dakota Department of Health, which is in week 45 of its influenza surveillance, reports the median age of the deaths in the state is 54 years old with a range from eight years to 96 years. So far, 99.9 percent of all influenza cases have tested positive for H1N1. 

Pennington County has the highest number of influenza deaths with five, while Shannon County and Minnehaha County each have two. Brookings, Brown, Buffalo, Clay, Codington, Davison, Todd, Turner, Union and Walworth counties all have one death each.

There were also 22 new hospitalizations due to influenza, bringing the season total to 388 in the state.

The Department of Health continues to call this flu season “different,” noting that in the nine previous influenza seasons since 2000, there were only five confirmed cases of influenza reported in South Dakota by the end of week 45. This compares with 2,236 confirmed cases this season.

In past years, influenza typically started in late November and peaked in February.

The Department of Health reports that influenza activity continues to be widespread, but there appears to be a decrease in cases during the past week. There has also been a decrease in student absenteeism with 2 percent of children kindergarten through 12th grades absent due to illness.