Influenza h3n2

An outbreak of H3N2 flu in India has left at least two people dead, according to Health experts in India are That said, Sure, with everything we’ve been through over the past three years, it’s understandable to feel a little nervous when you hear about an outbreak. So, do you need to worry about H3N2 in the U.S.? Here’s the deal. What is H3N2? In general, H3N2 is a strain of the flu that you want to avoid, if possible. But experts point out that the U.S. just faced a flu season with H3N2. H3N2 flu viruses began circulating in people in 1968, according to “When you have seasons that are dominated by H3N2, you tend to see more flu-related deaths,” Dr. Adalja says. “H3N2 is a strain of seasonal flu—it has been the dominant strain in this year’s influenza season, including in the U.S.,” Dr. Adalja says. “India just appears to be having a later peak than in the U.S.—H3N2 already came and went in the U.S. flu season.” Story continues Should you be worried about H3N2? Dr. Adalja says it’s unlikely we’ll see H3N2 again this season, despite how rapidly it’s spreading in India. “People have immunity because of exposure” from this season, Dr. Adalja points out. With flu season coming to an end in the U.S., it’s also unlikely that H3N2 would double back, he says. Consider this, too, per Dr. Adalja: H3N2 was Given that H3N2—which is a form of influenza A—was the dominant strain of the flu in the U.S. this season, there is a chance that we could s...

What is canine influenza? Canine influenza virus (CIV) is primarily the result of two influenza strains: H3N8 from an equine origin; H3N2 from an avian source. Both strains were previously known to infect species other than dogs but can now infect and spread among dogs. The H3N8 equine influenza virus has been recognized in horses for more than 40 years. In 2004, the H3N8 influenza virus, or 'flu', appears to have 'jumped' from horses to dogs. The virus had mutated into a form known as the canine influenza virus (CIV), which is highly infective for dogs. Canine influenza has been detected in most states. At first, veterinarians thought the H3N8 canine flu would be pretty lethal. Fortunately, like the human flu virus, it kills very few healthy individuals with a mortality rate between 1-5%, and most deaths are in dogs with concurrent severe illnesses. For comparison, the 1918 Spanish flu had a mortality rate of only 2%. In March of 2015, a new strain of influenza was identified (H3N2) in Chicago during an outbreak of respiratory illness. Before this, the H3N2 strain of canine influenza had only been identified in Asia, after jumping from birds to dogs. After its initial detection, cases of H3N2 influenza were reported in many states and a few provinces in Canada. The strain was even detected in a group of shelter cats that were exposed to infected dogs. The University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine reported a recent outbreak in May 2017. By mid-June, H3N2 infec...

• Article • • 09 December 2021 Enhanced isolation of influenza viruses in qualified cells improves the probability of well-matched vaccines • ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3651-2839 • ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5186-8342 • • • • • • • • … • Show authors npj Vaccines volume 6, Article number: 149 ( 2021) Influenza vaccines are utilised to combat seasonal and pandemic influenza. The key to influenza vaccination currently is the availability of candidate vaccine viruses (CVVs). Ideally, CVVs reflect the antigenic characteristics of the circulating virus, which may vary depending upon the isolation method. For traditional inactivated egg-based vaccines, CVVs are isolated in embryonated chicken eggs, while for cell-culture production, CVV’s are isolated in either embryonated eggs or qualified cell lines. We compared isolation rates, growth characteristics, genetic stability and antigenicity of cell and egg CVV’s derived from the same influenza-positive human clinical respiratory samples collected from 2008–2020. Influenza virus isolation rates in MDCK33016PF cells were twice that of eggs and mutations in the HA protein were common in egg CVVs but rare in cell CVVs. These results indicate that fully cell-based influenza vaccines will improve the choice, match and potentially the effectiveness, of seasonal influenza vaccines compared to egg-based vaccines. Influenza is a highly contagious, febrile respiratory illness that is responsible for an estimated 300,000–650,000 deaths annual...