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Four children in the US have been infected with a previously unknown strain of the H3N2 flu virus
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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Four children in the United States have been infected with a previously unknown strain of the H3N2 flu virus, MSNBC reports, citing Tom Skinner, a representative of the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the CDC, one of the cases was reported in Indiana, in a boy whose family had contact with pigs. Three of the children were in Pennsylvania. They all attended the same fair, which took place from August 13 to 20, where they also had contact with the aforementioned domestic animals.
Skinner said that a previously unknown strain of the H3N2 virus, which can easily be transmitted from person to person, was isolated from children infected with the flu. He added that laboratory studies of the new strain of the pathogen revealed a gene characteristic of the H1N1 virus, which caused the 2009-2010 flu pandemic.
The CDC official also noted that two of the four children who became ill in September 2010 had received H1N1 flu shots that were ineffective in protecting against the new strain of the pathogen.
The H1N1 flu pandemic, which the WHO announced in April 2009, lasted about 15 months and affected 214 countries. According to the international organization, more than 18 thousand people died from the infection. During the pandemic, the WHO organized free supplies of H1N1 vaccines to 35 developing countries.
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