News & Perspective

(CIDRAP News) – Influenza activity continued its early-season upward trend in the United States last week, while the flu season showed some signs of getting under way in Europe. In addition, US investigators found another case of swine-origin H3N2 flu, this one in a Minnesotan who has recovered.

(CIDRAP News) – Flu activity in the United States rose substantially last week, hitting the national baseline at the earliest point in the season since the 2003-04 flu season, and the first case of variant H3N2 (H3N2v) since September has been reported from Iowa, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported today.

(CIDRAP News) – With this year's big outbreak of swine-origin H3N2 influenza apparently over, a leading flu expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says extensive contact with pigs seems to have been the key risk factor and that very few cases had clear signs of human-to-human transmission.