Rhiza Labs FluTracker Forum

So far there have only been 8 confirmed trH3n2 cases with no fatalities and about half hospitalized. However, 8 is a VERY small sample size and the VAST majority of cases are not detected / reported.

Same question here. In PA, we have both trH3N2 and the Mexican strain of H1N1.

Since the trH3N2 was first identified as seasonal H3N2, is it possible that many of the samples identified as H3N2 in the U.S. are actually trH3N2? There have been quite a few pediatric fatalities attributed to H3N2 this season.

We compared the HA gene segment of A/Kansas/13/2009 (H3N2) with recent animal and human influenza (H3N2) viruses by using the neighbor-joining method, and it clustered with the HA from recent triple-reassortant SIV (H3N2) isolates (Appendix Figure) (10). A/Kansas/13/2009 (H3N2) shares >97% nucleotide identity with 2 swine viruses reported to have caused human infections, A/Ontario/RV1273/2005 and A/Ontario/1252/2007, and >90% nucleotide identity with currently circulating seasonal (H3N2) viruses, such as A/Perth/16/2009. Sequence analysis for the remaining 7 gene segments confirmed A/Kansas/13/2009 as triple-reassortant SIV (H3N2), belonging to the same lineages as the genes for the reference virus A/swine/Texas/98 (data not shown). A full genome sequence for A/Kansas/13/2009 (H3N2) has been submitted to GenBank (accession nos. GU937743–GU937750).

http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/17/6/1143.htm

CDC EID June 2011 edition - see LETTERS section

Swine Influenza Virus A (H3N2) Infection in Human, Kansas, USA, 2009

Chad M. Cox, Comments to Author Daniel Neises, Rebecca J. Garten, Bill Bryant, Richard A. Hesse, Gary A. Anderson, Ingrid Trevino-Garrison, Bo Shu, Stephen Lindstrom, Alexander I. Klimov, and Lyn Finelli

On July 28, 2009, a 12-year-old Kansas boy sought treatment for fever, cough, and sore throat. Results of an influenza rapid antigen test were positive, and a specimen was sent to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment for further testing. Real-time reverse transcription PCR (rRT-PCR) testing determined the virus contained the surface hemagglutinin (HA) gene of influenza A (H3) and the internal nucleoprotein gene common to all triple-reassortant SIVs (9). The specimen was sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA, USA) on August 3 and identified as swine-origin influenza virus A (H3N2) by rRT-PCR and sequence analysis.

The patient reported that during July 23–25, 2009, he touched healthy-appearing swine multiple times while attending a county fair. The boy received a standard treatment course of oseltamivir and recovered completely. None of his 3 household contacts attended the fair, and none reported signs or symptoms of illness in the weeks afterward.

snippets

Exactly right. trH3N2 has D225G and would target children.