Influenza A virus subtype H3N2 (also H3N2) is a subtype of viruses that cause influenza (flu). H3N2 viruses can infect birds and mammals. In birds, humans, and pigs, the virus has mutated into many strains. H3N2 is increasingly abundant in seasonal influenza, which kills an estimated 36,000 people in the United States each year.
Hundreds of dogs are hit with dog flu over the last couple of years. In a new development, this flu strain has hit Florida for the first time. At least a dozen dogs have been down with the virus according to a report issued by the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine on the 31st of May 2017.
New findings challenge the traditional policy of replacing old strains in existing human influenza vaccines with recent variants with only minimal changes.
The high-dose flu vaccine appeared to be more effective at preventing post-influenza deaths among older adults than the standard-dose vaccine, at least during a more severe flu season, according to a large new study of Medicare beneficiaries published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
To infect its victims, influenza A heads for the lungs, where it latches onto sialic acid on the surface of cells.
This year, everyone will have to roll up their sleeves and receive the flu shot via injection, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention no longer recommends the nasal flu mist vaccine due to ineffectiveness.
An international team of scientists have designed a new generation of universal flu vaccines to protect against future global pandemics that could kill millions.
A computer model developed by scientists at the University of Chicago shows that small increases in transmission rates of the seasonal influenza A virus (H3N2) can lead to rapid evolution of new strains that spread globally through human populations.
Influenza A viruses are responsible for seasonal disease outbreaks in humans. Influenza A also circulates among bird and some mammal populations and periodically crosses between species.
During the 2014-15 flu season, the poor match between the virus used to make the world's vaccine stocks and the circulating seasonal virus yielded a vaccine that was less than 20 percent effective.
Minor variants of flu strains, which are not typically targeted in vaccines, carry a bigger viral punch than previously realized, a team of scientists has found. Its research, which examined samples from the 2009 flu pandemic in Hong Kong, shows that these minor strains are transmitted along with the major strains and can replicate and elude immunizations.
New results from a study performed at the University of Helsinki suggest that genomic information from circulating influenza viruses can help in producing more efficient seasonal vaccines. The researchers were able to develop a simple approach for reliable real-time tracking and prediction of viral evolution based on whole-genome sequences of influenza viruses.
While planning your family's fall festivities this month, add the flu shot to the list. Then follow through with a visit to your doctor to make sure everyone is protected for the flu season. October is the recommended month to receive the vaccine for your best shot at preventing the flu.
A new, super-sensitive test has been developed that can detect virtually any virus that causes illness in humans and animals, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
A new test detects virtually any virus that infects people and animals, according to research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, where the technology was developed.
A new study of the records of millions of nursing home residents affirms the value of influenza vaccination among the elderly. The Brown University analysis found that between 2000 and 2009, the better matched the vaccine was for the influenza strain going around, the fewer nursing home residents died or were hospitalized.
GSK announced today it has begun shipping FLUARIX QUADRIVALENT (Influenza Vaccine) doses to US healthcare providers, following licensing and lot-release approval from the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
Flu vaccines delivered using microneedles that dissolve in the skin can protect people against infection even better than the standard needle-delivered vaccine, according to new research published in Biomaterials. The authors of the study, from Osaka University in Japan, say their dissolvable patch - the only vaccination system of its kind - could make vaccination easier, safer and less painful.
BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. today announced positive preliminary results from its BVX-006 Phase II clinical trial of M-001, BiondVax's candidate for a universal influenza vaccine.
Viruses like influenza have the ability to mutate over time, and given that the flu vaccines administered during the 2014-2015 season were largely ineffective at preventing the spread of the flu, it appears the virus that recently circulated had taken on mutations not accounted for when last year's vaccine was developed.
To predict how a seasonal influenza epidemic will spread across the United States, one should focus more on the mobility of people than on their geographic proximity, a new study suggests.