News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – An analysis of 2009 H1N1 influenza virus isolates from the 2010-11 flu season suggests that low-level community transmission of an oseltamivir-resistant strain took place, a development that bears close watching, researchers reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity remained low in the Northern Hemisphere last week, with only a few countries, such as Costa Rica and Cameroon, reporting spikes in the number of cases, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

Costa Rica is the only tropical country in the Americas to report increasing numbers of cases, which are primarily influenza A/H3N2, the WHO said.

(CIDRAP News) – Local or regional influenza outbreaks in a handful of countries were the only exceptions to a global pattern of low flu activity in recent weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its biweekly flu update today.