Hands-off learning. CDC recommends that children wash their hands after being near pigs.
Muffet / Liz West
An unusual flu virus has caught the attention of public health officials because it quickly spread from pigs county fairs in the United States for children. The virus, a variant of an H3N2 strain that infects humans seasonally, did not cause serious illness. little evidence exists that can spread between people, and the vast majority of cases are in two states.
Epidemiologist Joseph Bresee of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta said on a conference call today 145 cases have been confirmed since July 12, a big jump from last week when CDC tallied only 16 confirmed cases since then. "This is clearly a significant increase from the total of last week," he said, adding that this reflects an increase in the detection and many county fairs that are taking place.
Bresee said that over 0% of cases occurred in children, most of whom have had direct or indirect contact with pigs, and all but two were in Indiana and Ohio. "At this stage, there is no evidence of sustainable, effective, human to human spread in the community," he said. "Our seasonal influenza systems are active and have shown no signs in increased influenza activity. This is not a pandemic. But of course, CDC continues to monitor the situation closely. "
H3N2v surfaced in July 2011 and infected 12 more people before disappearing this winter. The researchers were intrigued because the virus has an internal gene "M" which corresponds to that found in the H1N1 pandemic virus has rapidly infected humans around the world in 09 and 2010. CDC virologist Michael Shaw said he suspect the M gene, which affects how the virus grows in its host, plays a role in the ongoing transmissions. "There is something in this gene that gives it an advantage for circulation in pigs," says Shaw. "And if it becomes more common in pigs, it gives more chance to jump into humans." But Shaw says there is no evidence that this M gene by itself leads to human to human transmission.
Out of this epidemic and pandemic H1N1, CDC has recorded only 35 cases total influenza viruses resulting from the transmission from pigs to humans in the United States over the past 7 years.
Bresee said that two people were hospitalized because of H3N2v infections, but were released. he urged people visiting the animals in the county fairs to wash their hands frequently and not eating or drinking around pigs. studies have shown that the vaccine against the current influenza, which contains an H3N2 component, not probably will not protect against this strain, but adults are likely to have immunity from exposure to strains "wild type" of influenza and previous vaccines provide some protection against the new variant.
CDC plans to release an update on the outbreak of tomorrow in its number Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report .
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