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Commentary
Hospitalized
Ohio H3N2v Cases Raise Concerns
Recombinomics
Commentary 20:00
August 15, 2012
To date, five of the confirmed cases were hospitalized, but they have since been treated and released.
To date, several of the confirmed cases were hospitalized, but they have since been treated and released.
The above comments are from the August 13, 14 and 15 H3N2v updates from the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). In these three reports, the number of confirmed cases in Champaign County was reported for the first time (3 cases) on August 13 and increased by five in each subsequent report, which may have been linked to the daily increases in the total number of hospitalized cases.
Media reports indicated Champaign County Health Commissioner Shelia Hiddleson stated “her staff her staff has taken calls from others with flu-like symptoms and that they have been told to treat fever and discomfort and only call a doctor if they are at high risk for flu complications…” suggesting that the number of cases in Champaign County may have been high.
The 13 confirmed cases in the latest ODH report are greater than the 11 confirmed in Gallia County, where more than 200 attendees of the Gallia Junior County fair were symptomatic and 200 were tested with an influenza A rapid test. 69 were positive and a sub-set was sent to ODH for H3N2v confirmation. However, the sensitivity levels of commercial rapid tests suggests that all or most of the symptomatic cases were influenza A positive, and ODH testing suggested that all influenza A positive cases were H3N2v infected.
Therefore, the 13 confirmed cases in Champaign County may indicate that the number of symptomatic cases exceeded 200, and the number seeking medical treatment may have strained health care delivery in the area. Moreover, the correlation of the increases in hospitalized patients with the increases in confirmed H3N2v cases in Champaign County may indicate a more aggressive H3N2v is transmitting in the area.
More information on the location of the hospitalized cases, as well as release of sequences from the hospitalized patients, would be useful.
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