Rhiza Labs FluTracker Forum

An adult with Type A influenza was reported to the Erie County Department of Health on Monday, said Charlotte Berringer, R.N., the department's director of community health.



"It's the earliest case I have seen in my nine years of following flu," Berringer said. "Other than the year we had H1N1 (2009), when flu cases never stopped."

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art ... EWSSITEMAP

_________________
www.twitter.com/hniman

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/09151 ... _PA_A.html

_________________
www.twitter.com/hniman

Two trH3N2 Pennsylvania cases in tomorrow's MMWR

http://wonder.cdc.gov/mmwr/mmwr_reps.as ... wr_table=1

Novel influenza A infection virus *** 2 6 0 4 43,774 2 4 NN PA (2 )

_________________
www.twitter.com/hniman

Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/09151 ... _MMWR.html

_________________
www.twitter.com/hniman

I just checked with David Bruce. There are no plans to sub-type sample.

_________________
www.twitter.com/hniman

Unfortunately, the "no plans to sub-type" is not a surprise, even though influenza A at this time of the year in western Pennsylvania is unusual, and there have already been three confirmed cases of trH3N2 from three independent introductions, signaling efficient transmission to humans. The three cases in western PA match the case in Indiana and 3 of the 4 cases have no reported contact with swine.

As expected, the CDC limits trH3N2 testing to those with some sort of loose / perceived swine contact, so they can claim an association, that is PURE "hopes and dreams", no science required.

_________________
www.twitter.com/hniman

Update. Erie has sent to sample to the PA Department of Health for sub-typing.

_________________
www.twitter.com/hniman

*** CDC discontinued reporting of individual confirmed and probable cases of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus infections on July 24, 2009. During 2009, four cases of human infection with novel influenza A viruses, different from the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) strain, were reported to CDC. The four cases of novel influenza A virus infection reported to CDC during 2010, and the six cases reported during 2011, were identified as swine influenza A (H3N2) virus and are unrelated to the 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus. Total case counts for 2009 were provided by the Influenza Division, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD).

_________________
www.twitter.com/hniman

http://www.pr.com/press-release/353488

“We had three patients test positive yesterday, and two today. And I know that we saw several flu patients over the weekend. And they were sick, sick, sick!” says Laurie Kardon, MD, MPH, an urgent care physician working at MD Now’s Boca Raton urgent care location.

_________________
www.twitter.com/hniman

Detection of additional cases has a number of issues. Currently, only the CDC has a test (PCR) for detection of trH3N2. States can only do an influenza A test (which has a noriously low sensititivity and a high rate of false negatives) and then test for H1 (swine via PCR) or seasonal H3. samples that are influenza A postive and H1/H3 negative are then sent to the CDC for further testing, which MAY include trH3N2.

_________________
www.twitter.com/hniman