{"id":10713,"date":"2025-12-24T11:58:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T07:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=10713"},"modified":"2025-12-24T11:58:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T07:58:06","slug":"super-flu-a-new-variant-of-h3n2-is-spreading-worldwide-why-is-it-dangerous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/super-flu-a-new-variant-of-h3n2-is-spreading-worldwide-why-is-it-dangerous\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Super Flu&#8221;: A new variant of H3N2 is spreading worldwide \u2013 why is it dangerous?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">This year, the global flu season has begun exceptionally early and with significant severity. Scientists and healthcare experts are raising concerns over a new variant of <b data-path-to-node=\"3\" data-index-in-node=\"171\">Influenza A H3N2<\/b>, known as the <b data-path-to-node=\"3\" data-index-in-node=\"202\">&#8220;K subclade,&#8221;<\/b> which the media has already dubbed the <b data-path-to-node=\"3\" data-index-in-node=\"255\">&#8220;Super Flu.&#8221;<\/b><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">According to the <b data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"17\">British Medical Journal (BMJ)<\/b>, this strain has already caused a dire epidemiological situation in the UK, Europe, and Australia. It has now become dominant in the U.S. as well, where critically high rates of flu cases are being reported in several states.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">Unlike the common flu, the current variant presents two primary challenges:<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"6\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"6,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Vaccine Mismatch:<\/b> As explained by <b data-path-to-node=\"6,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"34\">Brandon Dionne<\/b>, a professor at Northeastern University, the virus has undergone mutations in its surface proteins (<b data-path-to-node=\"6,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"149\">hemagglutinin<\/b>). Since vaccines are designed to produce antibodies against these specific proteins, the mutation means this year\u2019s vaccine cannot accurately &#8220;recognize&#8221; this new version of the virus.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"6,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Effectiveness Rates:<\/b> While flu vaccine effectiveness typically ranges from <b data-path-to-node=\"6,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"75\">40% to 60%<\/b>, British data shows that against this specific strain, it stands at only <b data-path-to-node=\"6,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"159\">32%\u201339%<\/b> in adults. However, effectiveness remains high among children, reaching <b data-path-to-node=\"6,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"239\">72%\u201375%<\/b>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">Despite the partial mismatch between the vaccine and the virus, experts still urge the public to get vaccinated. The primary goal of the vaccine is not only to prevent infection but also to significantly reduce the severity of the illness and the risk of hospitalization.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\">It takes approximately two weeks for immunity to fully develop, though some level of protection emerges just a few days after vaccination. The <b data-path-to-node=\"8\" data-index-in-node=\"143\">U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)<\/b> recommends vaccination for everyone aged 6 months and older.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\">This season has already seen <b data-path-to-node=\"9\" data-index-in-node=\"29\">4.6 million cases<\/b>, <b data-path-to-node=\"9\" data-index-in-node=\"48\">49,000 hospitalizations<\/b>, and <b data-path-to-node=\"9\" data-index-in-node=\"77\">1,900 deaths<\/b>. The main symptoms of the flu include:<\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"10\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,0,0\">Cough and headache;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,1,0\">Muscle aches and fatigue;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,2,0\">Chills, sweating, and fever.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\">In terms of treatment, the antiviral drug <b data-path-to-node=\"11\" data-index-in-node=\"42\">Oseltamivir (Tamiflu)<\/b> remains effective. It is crucial to start treatment as soon as symptoms appear, which reduces the duration of the illness by an average of 12\u201324 hours. Additionally, combined home tests are available that can simultaneously detect <b data-path-to-node=\"11\" data-index-in-node=\"295\">Flu (Types A and B)<\/b> and <b data-path-to-node=\"11\" data-index-in-node=\"319\">COVID-19<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/391\/bmj.r2602\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BMJ<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year, the global flu season has begun exceptionally early and with significant severity. Scientists and healthcare experts are raising concerns over a new variant of Influenza A H3N2, known as the &#8220;K subclade,&#8221; which the media has already dubbed the &#8220;Super Flu.&#8221; According to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), this strain has already caused [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1594,1665,1587,1657],"tags":[3518,3519],"class_list":["post-10713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-public-health","category-research","category-science","tag-influenza-a-h3n2","tag-super-flu"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10716,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10713\/revisions\/10716"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}