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Published Date: 2011-11-02 15:54:18
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Influenza (63): USA (ME, NOT NH) swine-origin H3N2 reassortant
Archive Number: 20111102.3260

INFLUENZA (63): USA (MAINE, NOT NEW HAMPSHIRE) SWINE-ORIGIN H3N2
REASSORTANT
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Date: Sun 23 Oct 2011
Source: Nashua Telegraph [edited]
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/newsstatenewengland/937017-227/n.h.-keeping-eye-out-after-flu-passes.html

New Hampshire residents who work with pigs are being cautioned to keep
an eye out for flu-like symptoms after a Maine child became sick from
[a] "novel influenza virus" [infection]. The child had contact with
pigs, including time spent in a closed setting at an agricultural
fair, public health officials said. The child became sick earlier this
month [October 2011]. So far, officials said Friday [21 Oct 2011], the
case of the child in Cumberland County, Maine, "is an isolated event.
They said Maine "is not aware of any person-to-person transmission."

Public health officials have long feared a new, dangerous strain of
influenza would be bred in animals and passed to people, where it
would have the ability to spread throughout the human population in a
manner similar to the devastating 1918 influenza pandemic. That
concern explains the enormous publicity and reaction to the so-called
swine flu scare of 2009, which petered out when the H1N1 strain proved
less dangerous than feared.

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and federal health
authorities are investigating the latest case, which is unusual,
although not unique. Since 2005, the federal Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention reports, there have been 26 cases of flu virus
passing from pigs to people. None of those cases have resulted in
disease that passes from people to other people.

"Swine-origin influenza is rare in humans, but veterinarians should
remind owners and those who work closely with swine to watch for
symptoms of ILI (influenza-like illness) in themselves and their
families," said the announcement from Maine, which was passed on to
New Hampshire veterinarians on Thursday [20 Oct 2011]. "Any person
with ILI, defined as fever greater than 100 deg F [38 deg C] with
cough or sore throat, should contact their primary care provider for
follow-up."

Influenza can have a variety of signatures, differentiated by the
letters H and N, which stand for different proteins on the surface of
the virus. There are 16 types of H (hemagglutinin) and 9 types of N
(neuraminidase), meaning up to 1454 strains of flu can exist, which is
why tracking and vaccinating for the disease is difficult.

Officials said the influenza in the Maine case is similar to rare
human infections with swine-origin H3N2 viruses, but it also contains
a genetic component of the pandemic H1N1 virus. This is genetically
similar to 4 previous cases identified in the United States this year
[2011], 3 in Pennsylvania and one in Indiana, all of which had
exposure to swine.

[Byline: David Brooks]

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Communicated by:
ProMED-mail
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[This press report has been incorrectly interpreted elsewhere as
confirmation of transmission of a swine-origin reassortant A/H3N2
influenza virus to humans from pigs in New Hampshire. Transmission of
this strain of influenza virus occurred in isolated cases in the
states of Indiana, Maine, and Pennsylvania, with no onward
human-to-human transmission. These cases are described in detail in
the ProMED-mail references below.

No transmission (or isolation) of this swine-origin reassortant H3N2
influenza virus has occurred in the state of New Hampshire as far as
is known at present.

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

See Also