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2014–2015 Flu Epidemic: A high number of severe cases admitted to intensive careIn its latest weekly Flu Bulletin dated February 25, 2015, the InVS reports that the epidemic peak has passed but that this outbreak (ranked 13th among the strongest outbreaks over the past 30 years), while beginning to decline, remains highly active nationwide. It is affecting the elderly more severely, with the number of hospitalizations continuing to rise for people aged 65 and older, while it is decreasing for other age groups. Since November 1, 2014, 970 cases of influenza admitted to intensive care have been reported to the InVS, including 716 cases since the start of the epidemic in the third week of 2015 and 239 cases during the week of the epidemic peak (February 9–15). The majority of severe cases are infected with a type A virus (87%). Patients ranged in age from 1 month to 98 years, with a mean age of 60 years; 48% of cases were 65 years of age or older. Among risk factors, in addition to age, 82% of cases had comorbidities, including pulmonary conditions (41%), cardiac conditions (19%), and diabetes (19%). In terms of severity, nearly half of the cases (46%) presented with acute respiratory distress syndrome, and 98 patients died; of these, 84/98 (86%) had a risk factor and 82/98 (84%) were infected with an influenza A virus.The characteristics of patients during this outbreak are consistent with those observed during outbreaks dominated by the A(H3N2) virus, which causes severe forms of influenza in the elderly and high-risk individuals. The high number of severe cases is attributable in part to the large scale of the current outbreak but likely also to the poor match between the circulating A(H3N2) viruses and the composition of the vaccine strains. A description of severe cases admitted to intensive care units in Burgundy and Franche-Comté is available on page 3.