Here’s a look at health and environmental news from around South Carolina.

14 flu deaths reported in South Carolina

COLUMBIA, SC (WCBD) – The Department of Health and Environmental Control says three people in South Carolina died from the flu last week, raising the death toll for this season to 14.

Flu activity on the rise in South Carolina, other southern states

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — The flu is now widespread in Alabama — and it’s expected to increase, federal health officials reported.

Alabama is among 19 states reporting high levels of influenza in a recent report to the Centers for Disease Control, Al.com reported.

General interest

US Flu Season Poised to Be Milder Than Last Year’s Harsh One

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s early, but the current flu season is shaping up to be gentler than last winter’s unusually brutal one, U.S. health officials said.

In most parts of the country, most illnesses right now are being caused by a flu strain that leads to fewer hospitalizations and deaths as the kind of flu that dominated a year ago, according to officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Vaccines also work better against it, said the CDC’s Dr. Alicia Fry.