Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/news-perspective/2015/02/flu-scan-feb-26-2015
Flu Scan for Feb 26, 2015
Flu vaccine strain selection; H7N9 in China
Filed Under:
Influenza Vaccines; H7N9 Avian Influenza
[h=3]WHO recommends 2 strain changes for next flu vaccine[/h] The World Health Organization (WHO) today recommended changing two of the three strains in trivalent flu vaccines for use in the Northern Hemisphere's 2015-16 flu season.
First would be replacing the H3N2 in the current vaccine with the A/Switzerland-like virus, which showed up in small numbers after last season's recommendations were made but which has dominated in the United States this flu season. US health officials have said the mismatch between this year's vaccine and the circulating strain lowered efficacy, contributing to a more difficult flu season.
Second would be switching out the B/Massachusetts strain with B/Phuket, which, like the former, is from the Yamagata lineage. For quadrivalent vaccines that contain two influenza B strains, the WHO recommended adding B/Brisbane, which belongs to the Victoria lineage.
These new vaccine recommendations from the WHO for the Northern Hemisphere match the ones made last September for the Southern Hemisphere's upcoming flu season, which typically starts in May.
Because it takes several months to prepare vaccine viruses and grow them in eggs and cell culture, the WHO makes its recommendations several months in advance, based on its global analysis of circulating flu strain patterns and genetics. It will make its next recommendation for the Southern Hemisphere in September.
Feb 26 WHO strain selection report
[h=3]China reports another H7N9 case, WHO weighs in on H7N9 patterns[/h] Health officials in China's Zhejiang province yesterday reported an H7N9 avian influenza infection in a 49-year-old man from the city of Quzhou, according to a translation of an official report from there posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board. The man had been exposed to poultry and is hospitalized.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its Northern Hemisphere flu strain selection report that China has reported 148 human H7N9 cases from Sep 24, 2014, through Feb 23, which is close to the 153 cases FluTrackers has registered during the same time period. FluTrackers bases its list on translations of municipal and provincial health department reports.
According to an H7N9 case list kept by FluTrackers, the new infection lifts the global total to 614. The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a flu overview today that it has received reports of 602 H7N9 infections, 227 of them fatal. Most were from China, but travel-linked cases have also been reported from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Canada.
Compared with H7N9 activity in China last winter, cases in the third wave started gradually, increasing in November 2014 and again in January of this year but not as sharply as in January 2014.
The epidemiology of H7N9 illness in humans hasn't changed, with most infections occurring in people who had contact with poultry or poultry environments, the WHO said. It added that a few small human clusters have been detected, and though human-to-human spread can't be ruled out, transmission chains have been short, with no evidence of spread into the wider community.
The H7N9 virus does seem to pass more easily from birds to humans than the pattern seen with H5N1 avian influenza, according to the WHO.
The WHO said about 36% of H7N9 infections have been fatal, but it is not known how many asymptomatic or mild infections are occurring.
Feb 26 FluTrackers thread
FluTrackers H7N9 case list
Feb 26 WHO strain selection report
Feb 26 WHO influenza overview
Flu Scan for Feb 26, 2015
Flu vaccine strain selection; H7N9 in China
Filed Under:
Influenza Vaccines; H7N9 Avian Influenza
[h=3]WHO recommends 2 strain changes for next flu vaccine[/h] The World Health Organization (WHO) today recommended changing two of the three strains in trivalent flu vaccines for use in the Northern Hemisphere's 2015-16 flu season.
First would be replacing the H3N2 in the current vaccine with the A/Switzerland-like virus, which showed up in small numbers after last season's recommendations were made but which has dominated in the United States this flu season. US health officials have said the mismatch between this year's vaccine and the circulating strain lowered efficacy, contributing to a more difficult flu season.
Second would be switching out the B/Massachusetts strain with B/Phuket, which, like the former, is from the Yamagata lineage. For quadrivalent vaccines that contain two influenza B strains, the WHO recommended adding B/Brisbane, which belongs to the Victoria lineage.
These new vaccine recommendations from the WHO for the Northern Hemisphere match the ones made last September for the Southern Hemisphere's upcoming flu season, which typically starts in May.
Because it takes several months to prepare vaccine viruses and grow them in eggs and cell culture, the WHO makes its recommendations several months in advance, based on its global analysis of circulating flu strain patterns and genetics. It will make its next recommendation for the Southern Hemisphere in September.
Feb 26 WHO strain selection report
[h=3]China reports another H7N9 case, WHO weighs in on H7N9 patterns[/h] Health officials in China's Zhejiang province yesterday reported an H7N9 avian influenza infection in a 49-year-old man from the city of Quzhou, according to a translation of an official report from there posted by FluTrackers, an infectious disease news message board. The man had been exposed to poultry and is hospitalized.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said today in its Northern Hemisphere flu strain selection report that China has reported 148 human H7N9 cases from Sep 24, 2014, through Feb 23, which is close to the 153 cases FluTrackers has registered during the same time period. FluTrackers bases its list on translations of municipal and provincial health department reports.
According to an H7N9 case list kept by FluTrackers, the new infection lifts the global total to 614. The World Health Organization (WHO) said in a flu overview today that it has received reports of 602 H7N9 infections, 227 of them fatal. Most were from China, but travel-linked cases have also been reported from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Canada.
Compared with H7N9 activity in China last winter, cases in the third wave started gradually, increasing in November 2014 and again in January of this year but not as sharply as in January 2014.
The epidemiology of H7N9 illness in humans hasn't changed, with most infections occurring in people who had contact with poultry or poultry environments, the WHO said. It added that a few small human clusters have been detected, and though human-to-human spread can't be ruled out, transmission chains have been short, with no evidence of spread into the wider community.
The H7N9 virus does seem to pass more easily from birds to humans than the pattern seen with H5N1 avian influenza, according to the WHO.
The WHO said about 36% of H7N9 infections have been fatal, but it is not known how many asymptomatic or mild infections are occurring.
Feb 26 FluTrackers thread
FluTrackers H7N9 case list
Feb 26 WHO strain selection report
Feb 26 WHO influenza overview