Flu is widespread in all but 5 states

ATLANTA - Federal officials said Wednesday that flu activity has reached widespread levels in all but five U.S. states.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the flu has reached widespread status - the CDC's highest outbreak level - in 10 states since last week: Alabama, Alaska, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Of the five states where the flu is not widespread, Hawaii has seen only localized outbreaks, while regional outbreaks have been reported in Florida, Louisiana, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.

The CDC said influenzalike illnesses are increasing overall, but are decreasing in some areas, including Texas and Colorado, two states that were hit particularly hard by the flu early this season.

In other developments Wednesday:

HAVE FLU, NO COMMUNION: The Boston Archdiocese is asking parishioners with cold or flu symptoms to forgo long-standing traditions of Mass, including communion and shaking hands as a symbol of peace, to avoid spreading the illnesses.

GEORGIA SCAMMED: Georgia health officials agreed to buy 100,000 extra flu shots for $1.65-million. They wired the money. But the flu shots never came; they never existed, state officials said Wednesday.

Dr. Kathleen Toomey, health division director, said she was told by the FBI that other states might have been similarly defrauded.

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