I have received several questions about my assertion that the northern hemisphere is safe, at least until the fall, from an epidemic of A/California/09/2009 influenza virus. Here are two representative questions: If I recall correctly, Spanish flu hit hardest during the summer and fall. As for the swine flu, is it impossible (and why?) to …
Swine influenza, seasonality, and the northern hemisphere Read More »
A novel strain of H1N1 swine influenza virus has now also been isolated from cases of respiratory disease in Mexico City, New York City, and two locations in Canada. Clearly I was wrong in hypothesizing that the five mild cases in Texas and California reported last week were not a cause for alarm. In Mexico …
A new strain of swine influenza virus has been recently isolated from seven persons in the US. Is it time to break out the swine flu vaccine of 1976? Last week the CDC reported that swine influenza virus had been isolated from two children with respiratory illness in California. The cases were not linked and …
Influenza viruses of two subtypes, H1N1 and H3N2, have been causing respiratory infections in humans since 1977. Before that year, it was believed that only one human subtype circulated each flu season. How did this unusual situation come about? Major changes in the surface glycoproteins of influenza virus – called antigenic shift – lead to …
The CDC has issued a health advisory which indicates that a high number of currently circulating H1N1 influenza viruses are resistant to the antiviral drug oseltamivir. Fifty H1N1 isolates obtained in the U.S. since October 2008 were examined for drug sensitivity; 98% of these isolates are resistant to oseltamivir. Influenza H3N2 isolates, however, are still susceptible …
Oseltamivir resistance in current H1N1 influenza virus strains Read More »
