News & Perspective

(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.

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza activity in the Southern Hemisphere has mostly returned to off-season levels, with only a few countries in tropical regions reporting significant activity, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Two research groups today reported rare cases of pandemic 2009 H1N1 coinfections with seasonal influenza strains, including a cluster in Cambodia and two patients from Italy's Veneto region.

(CIDRAP News) – A few of the world's tropical countries are reporting active flu transmission, as the flu season continues in Australia and New Zealand, though activity is declining, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – Though influenza activity is low in most nations, some are seeing active transmission, including Cuba, Bolivia, Cameroon, and parts of Southeast Asia, the World Health Organization said today in an update.

Cuba and El Salvador have reported increasing circulation of influenza A (H3N2), a strain that peaked in Honduras in the middle of August.

(CIDRAP News) – A run of stability in the makeup of seasonal influenza vaccines continued as the World Health Organization (WHO) recently recommended using the same three flu strains in next year's Southern Hemisphere vaccine as are in the current Northern Hemisphere vaccine and were used last year in southern countries.

(CIDRAP News) – The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) expressed renewed concern today about H5N1 avian influenza, warning of a "possible major resurgence" of bird outbreaks and saying that a vaccine-evading strain has emerged in Vietnam and China.