Two More trH3N2 Cases (PA & IN) Raise Pandemic Concerns
Recombinomics Commentary 01:15
September 2, 2011

Tomorrow’s MMWR (week 34) will report two more pandemic H3N2 cases (trH3N2).  The cases in Indiana increase that state’s total to two, with both cases reported in a one month period.  The H3 sequence, A/Indiana/08/2011, from the first case (1M) was closely related to the sequence from the Minnesota cluster, as well as cases in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2010.  The presence of similar sequence in human cases collected over a one year period raised concerns of human adaptation.

The latest cases raise the total for Pennsylvania to three and raise concerns that all three recent cases will have similar H3 sequences.  The H3 sequence from Minnesota has been selected as a pandemic H3N2 vaccine  target.

Release of sequences from the two recent cases, as well as information on the three recent cases would be useful.  The CDC has not updated its website since January of this year, in spite of a confirmed cluster in MN, two confirmed cases in PA, and two confirmed cases in IN after the last update.

The reporting of three trH3N2 cases in the past month is without precedence.

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