News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today reported two more infections with swine-origin H3N2 influenza, including a case first announced by Maine 3 days ago and an additional illness in an Indiana patient.

The CDC also said flu activity in the United States is still at low levels, a pattern the World Health Organization (WHO) is also seeing in most parts of the world.

(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) – 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.

(CIDRAP News) – Australian public health officials yesterday reported a cluster of oseltamivir (Tamiflu)-resistant 2009 H1N1 infections, one of the largest to date, centered in one region of New South Wales state.