Arizona nurse practitioner says this flu season is worse than last

PHOENIX — One Arizona health expert says the 2025 flu season so far is worse than last year’s, leaving some people sick for as long as a whole week.

“It’s really bad,” Samia Kadri, a Banner Urgent Care nurse practitioner, told KTAR News 92.3 FM last week. “I would venture to say a little bit worse than last year, in my eyes.”

Her comments came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted data showing that the U.S. winter virus season is the worst it’s been in 15 years.

Kadri said she hasn’t seen any flu deaths in her practice. However, the first child flu death of the season was reported in Pinal County in January.

What’s so bad about 2025 flu season in Arizona?

Kadri said she’s seeing a lot of cases of influenza A, which strikes its victims with fevers and body aches.

“I’ve seen a lot of patients returning on day four, day five,” Kadri said. “They just can’t shake the fever.”

This is highly unusual, she added. Usually, when someone comes down with the flu, the first few days are the worst. After that hurdle is crossed, people tend to start feeling normal again.

“The severity of symptoms with this strain has been causing a lot of more sickness for a longer duration,” Kadri said.

She urged Arizonans with fevers not to go to work and to isolate for five to seven days.

“That’s when you’re highly contagious,” Kadri said. “If you have a fever on day seven, you’re still contagious.”

Advice for Arizonans sick this 2025 flu season

She advised those who are sick to hydrate, wash their hands and seek treatment if symptoms persist.

“It’s really important to follow up with a health care provider if you’re not getting better at day six, day seven,” Kadri said. “If you’re not able to tolerate fluids, visit an urgent care, get an assessment done, make sure that you’re okay and also make sure you don’t have secondary pulmonia.”

Kadri also said she’s seeing more patients with COVID and RSV.

“If you haven’t gotten your flu shot now, you can still get it because flu season is right here now,” Kadri said. “We’ll probably persist through about March, April.”

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Heidi Hommel and Kate Ourada contributed to this report.

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