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trH3N2 will be discussed at length tonight on Rense at 10 PM EST
http://www.rense.com/about/guests.htm

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Commentary

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/10201 ... usive.html

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Case of "Novel" Swine Flu Turns up in Maine
10/20/2011 01:58 PM ET
Maine health officials say a child in Cumberland County became ill with a novel strain of swine flu after being exposed to swine at an agricultural fair.
State health officials say they're investigating a case of a novel type of swine flu that turned up in a child in Cumberland County earlier this month. Maine Center for Disease Control Director Dr. Sheila Pinette says the federal CDC has confirmed the novel strain.

Pinette says the child was not hospitalized and is recovering from the illness. No other human cases have turned up.

Officials say the child became ill in early October after being exposed to swine at an agricultural fair. The Maine CDC and Department of Agriculture are currently investigating exposures, Pinette says.

She says the type of influenza identified in the child is similar to other infections that people have caught from swine, and contains a genetic component of the pandemic H1N1 virus that swept through Maine in 2009.

The novel virus that sickened the child is known as the H3N2 virus and rarely infects humans, Pinette says. She says the virus is genetically simlar to four previous cases found in the U.S. this year, three of them in Pennsylvania and one in Indiana. All of those sickened in those incidents had been exposed to swine.

http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/V ... fault.aspx
Pinette says the case that's turned up in Maine appears to be an isolated one, and there's no indication of any person-to-person transmission.

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Demonstrably false media myth. Indiana case has NO "exposure to" or contact with swine. Similarly, the other four cases visited an agricultural fair, which is why they were tested for trH3N2. The vast majority of trH3N2 are not tested for swine H3, and therefore not reported.

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Maine CDC investigating new swine-origin flu


By John Richardson jrichardson@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer


The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a new type of swine flu that sickened a child in Cumberland County.



The agency has not provided any more details about who was affected or where, but said it is an isolated event in Maine and has not been detected in people who had contact with the child. The child was hospitalized and is recovering, it said.

The child got sick earlier this month after "exposure to swine including time spent in a closed setting at an agricultural fair," according to the CDC alert.

This virus is genetically similar to four previous cases identified in the United States this year, three in Pennsylvania and one in Indiana, all of which had exposure to swine, it says.

The strain is considered new, but it also has a component of the pandemic H1N1 virus.

The CDC is advising doctors to be on the lookout for cases of the flu and is emphasizing seasonal flu precautions, including vaccinations.
http://www.kjonline.com/news/Maine-CDC- ... origin-flu

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INFLUENZA (60): (MAINE), SWINE-ORIGIN H3N2 REASSORTANT, CHILD
*************************************************************

A ProMED-mail post
http://www.promedmail.org
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
http://www.isid.org
Date: Thu 20 Oct 2011Source: MPBN (The Maine Public Broadcasting Network) [edited]http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/18567/Default.aspx


Maine health officials say a child in Cumberland County became ill
with a novel strain of swine flu after being exposed to swine at an
agricultural fair earlier this month [October 2011]. Maine Center for
Disease Control director Dr Sheila Pinette says the federal CDC
[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] has confirmed the novel
strain. Pinette says the child was not hospitalized and is recovering
from the illness.

No other human cases have turned up. The Maine CDC and Department of
Agriculture are currently investigating exposures, Pinette says. She
says the type of influenza identified in the child is similar to other
infections that people have caught from swine and contains a genetic
component of the pandemic H1N1 virus that swept through Maine in
2009.

The novel virus that sickened the child is known as the H3N2 virus and
rarely infects humans, Pinette says. She says the virus is genetically
similar to 4 previous cases found in the United States this year
[2011], 3 of them in Pennsylvania and one in Indiana. All of those
sickened in those incidents had been exposed to swine. Pinette says
the case that has turned up in Maine appears to be an isolated one,
and there is no indication of any person-to-person transmission.

--
communicated by:
ProMED-mail

[Background from "Reported human infections with swine-origin
influenza viruses (SOIV) in the United States since 2005," (CDC
website, http://www.cdc.gov/flu/swineflu/soiv_cases.htm): As of 9
Sep 2011, 25 cases of human infection with swine origin influenza
viruses have been reported in the United States. These are viruses
that normally infect pigs. Like human influenza viruses, there are
different subtypes and strains of swine-origin influenza viruses. The
main swine influenza viruses circulating in US pigs in recent years
are swine triple reassortant (tr) H1N1 influenza virus, trH3N2 virus
and trH1N2 virus. Of the 25 human cases reported since 2005, 12 have
been trH1N1 viruses; 12 have been trH3N2 viruses and one has been a
trH1N2 virus. All 25 persons infected with swine viruses recovered
from their illnesses. 18 cases occurred in children (persons 18 or
younger), and 7 cases occurred in adults. In 21 cases, direct or
indirect exposure to swine prior to onset of illness has been
identified. Likely transmission of swine-origin influenza virus from
close contact with an infected person has been observed in
investigations of human infections with swine-origin influenza A virus
but has not resulted in sustained human-to-human transmission.

The type of influenza identified in the Maine case is similar to more
recent rare human infections with a swine-origin H3N2 reassortant
virus, which contains a genetic component of the pandemic H1N1 virus.
The Maine virus is genetically similar to 4 previous cases identified
in the United States this year (2011), 3 in Pennsylvania, and one in
Indiana (see the ProMED-mail references below), all of which had
exposure to swine. The child in Maine became ill in early October 2011
with symptoms similar to seasonal influenza including fever, cough,
headache, sore throat, and myalgia. Prior to illness, the child had
exposure to swine, including time spent in a closed setting at an
agricultural fair. Maine CDC and the Department of Agriculture are
currently investigating exposures. Presently, this is an isolated
event, and Maine CDC has not confirmed any person-to-person
transmission.

Cumberland county in the state of Maine can be located in the
HealthMap/ProMED-mail interactive map at:
http://healthmap.org/r/1m1U. - Mod.CP]


See Also

Influenza (54): (PA) swine-origin H3N2 reassortant, comment
20110913.2789
Influenza (52): (PA), swine-origin H3N2 reassortant, 3 cases
20110906.2723
Influenza (51): swine-origin H3N2 reassortant, children 20110902.2685
Influenza (47): ECDC report, virus characterization 20110816.2477]
.................................................lm/cp/msp/sh
http://www.promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20111021.3134

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ProMed also distributing demonstrably false information on swine exposure. The case in Indiana had no swine exposure. His caretaker, who had no symptoms or evidence of a SOIV infection, had contact with swine, which also had no symptoms or evidence of an SOIV infection.

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From the federal CDC week 40 FluView summarizing the 4 2011 cases (emphasis added):

All four children were infected with swine-origin influenza A (H3N2) viruses; two were hospitalized; all four have since recovered from their illness. The case in Indiana did not report exposure to pigs prior to illness onset, although an epidemiologic investigation concluded human to human transmission was likely as a close contact reported direct contact with pigs prior to the child’s illness onset.
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/weeklyarc ... ekly40.htm

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The lack of exposure was also cited in the MMWR, which gove more detail on the case, including the following on exposure:

No direct exposure to swine was identified for this child; however, a caretaker reported direct contact with asymptomatic swine in the weeks before the boy's illness onset and provided care to the child 2 days before illness onset. No respiratory illness was identified in any of the child's family or close contacts, the boy's caretaker, or in the family or contacts of the caretaker.
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtm ... mm6035a6_w

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Maine sequences have been posted at Genbank.

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