TORONTO — Canadian doctors are reporting what may be the first case of a new flu virus created after a child became co-infected with two influenza strains — pandemic H1N1 and seasonal H3N2.
The 16-month-old boy from the Greater Toronto Area was admitted to a local hospital on January 24 and discharged home after about a 15-hour stay.
The child, who was suffering both respiratory and gastrointestinal symptoms, recovered from his illness without complications and none of his family members or other close contacts contracted the virus.
Doctors only discovered the toddler had been infected with an altered flu virus after testing of nasal-throat swabs turned up evidence of what's called "reassortment" — genes from the H1N1 and H3N2 flu viruses had been swapped, creating a virus with a new genetic combination.
