CBS News – Doctors and scientists say this year’s influenza season could be tougher than usual. A new version of the flu virus, called H3N2, is spreading quickly. At the same time, fewer people are getting flu shots.
“This flu season is no joke. We are seeing more cases than we would expect for this time of year,” Dr. Amanda Kravitz, a pediatrician at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, said on “CBS Mornings.”
Specifically, she explained, “we are seeing influenza A, and within influenza A we are seeing a subtype or variant called H3N2.”
“It’s pretty likely to be an H3N2-dominated flu season,” said Jesse Bloom, a scientist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center who studies viral evolution.
“I don’t see any reason to think that this is an unprecedentedly bad one, but current indicators are that it may be substantially more severe than the typical winter flu season.”
Bloom said the H3N2 virus has changed just enough to make it harder for people’s immune systems to recognize, but a flu shot could still help.
“Getting the vaccine is something that people, particularly those who are in high-risk groups, can do,” he explained. “It’s not going to eliminate their chance of getting infected, but it does mitigate their risk.”
A changing virus
Other experts share Bloom’s concern. “I would say pretty worried,” said Dr. Helen Chu, a flu expert at the University of Washington. “Based on the U.K. and Japan data, it’s looking like it’s causing a lot of cases of flu and hospitalizations.”
She said flu activity “is starting everywhere right now,” overlapping with RSV but coming before a likely winter COVID-19 wave. Early flu vaccine data from other countries show good protection at first, around 70% in children, but that may not last …
