The United States has been hit considerably hard during the early flu season with several reports of the sickness surfacing throughout the country. The illness is said to be behind the hospitalization of 2,257 people and has tragically left 18 children dead.

According to Daily Mail, health officials are stating that the flu hasn't even hit its peak yet.

"I think we're still accelerating," Center for Disease Control and Prevention spokesperson Tom Skinner said to reporters.

The most recent findings from the CDC reveal that 29 states and New York City are experiencing very high levels of flu activity. Altogether, reports on 41 states have been made.

"It's about five weeks ahead of the average flu season. We haven't seen such an early season since 2003 to 2004," Lyn Finelli of the surveillance and response team monitoring influenza for the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases said.

During the 2003-2004 flu season, 3-year-old passed Emily Lastinger tragically passed away just five days after getting the flu that late January. The respective time period was classified as a "moderately severe" season for the illness.

"That was the first really bad season for children in a while.  For whatever reason that's not well understood, it affected her and killed her," explained Emily's father Joe Lastinger.

About 4 percent of users on Flu Near You, a real-time tracking system, state that they anticipate getting symptoms.

"That's huge. Last year. We never got near this," John Brownstein, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and Children's Hospital Boston told NBC News.

Brownstein is one of the founders of Flu Near You, which has been a productive tool for giving immediate data regarding the seemingly continuous flu season.

"It's what we call 'nowcasting.'  It's more up-to-date view," he added.

Roughly 127 million doses of flu vaccine have now been mass distributed for this season.

Tags: offbeat