Covid h3n2

It’s the greatest scientific mystery of this century. Did the Covid-19 virus originate in a ‘wet market’ in Wuhan, the Chinese city that also happens to be home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology? Or can it be traced back to dangerous Chinese military research being carried out into coronaviruses at the virology institute itself? Investigators who’ve been combing through mountains of evidence and talking to experts around the globe are convinced the deadly Covid-19 virus which has killed millions came into being as a result of experiments that started out as a vaccine-hunt but later turned into a quest for a lethal bio-weapon. The mystery begins deep inside a mineshaft of an abandoned copper mine in Mojiang in Yunnan province where, in 2016, Chinese researchers stumbled upon a till-then unknown coronavirus. The discovery was initially reported to the Americans who were funding their research. But later, the Chinese began to wrap the investigation under deep layers of secrecy, says The Sunday Times in a detailed expose. Also, the Chinese military began to be closely associated with the coronavirus research being carried out at Wuhan Institute. In particular, a leading role was played by Zhou Yusen, a decorated military scientist. Zhou came under the spotlight when he filed for a vaccine patent Covid-19 in February 2020, barely five weeks after first Covid-19 cases were officially reported by the Chinese. Scientists say it’s virtually impossible to develop a vaccine at such ...

A feared “twindemic” of influenza and COVID never came to pass last year, but the outlook for such a confluence this winter is resurfacing similar concerns among epidemiologists and other infectious disease experts. Flu cases started to tick up in October and November, and those months saw an Public health officials agree that Current flu infection rates nearly match the expectations of the CDC for this time of year, Brammer says. “This looks like a regular start of a flu season,” she adds, noting that most outbreaks so far have been in young adults (particularly on college campuses) and that now the virus now is spreading to older adults. U.S. influenza mortality rates vary from season to season. The viral disease caused an estimated Like COVID, flu can have serious long-term effects, says Speculations about “flurona” emerging as a Frankenstein-like single pathogen combining flu- and COVID-causing viruses is possible to develop flu and COVID infections at the same time. “Either one of these diseases can be very bad in people who are susceptible, and if you put them together, it can only be worse. But we know very little about it,” says Some looming concerns could pertain more to larger systems instead of individuals. Before the pandemic, hospitals and their emergency departments would fill up annually during the winter viral season, Andrew says. “Now we’re seeing hospitals getting overwhelmed with these waves of COVID, but everybody else still needs their regular care, to...

1968 was a bad year for flu but, as pandemics go, it was pretty mild. Scientists called the flu strain that hit the world H3N2. It’s still around. Globally, about one million people died until the outbreak faded during the winter of 1969-70. In the U.S., the death toll was approximately 100,000 – three or four times the average annual death toll for flu since 2010, according to Although the COVID-19 death toll has not yet reached the numbers of H3N2, it still continues to climb. According to Johns Hopkins University’s continually updated ad The H3N2 flu originated in Hong Kong in July 1968, appeared in the U.S. in September and is still circulating as a type of Influenza A. H3N2 was present among the 2019 flu strains and in the Like so many viruses implicated in 20th century pandemics, both the H3N2 virus and the SARS-Cov-2 virus that causes COVID-19 exhibited cross-species transmission, appearing first in animals before jumping to humans and, sometimes, back to animals. A H3N2 is considered one of the most troubling flu strains because, like COVID-19, it is highly contagious. Scientists suspect that H3N2 emerged through an antigenic shift, in which the hemagglutinin (H) H2 antigen on the surface of the virus mutated to become the H3 antigen. According to the CDC, “The H3N2 virus is comprised of two genes from an avian influenza A virus, including a new H3 hemagglutinin, but also contains the N2 neuraminidase from the 1957 H2N2 virus.” When sequencing the The small changes...

The recent reports of a rise in Covid-19 detections across the country comes on the heels of one of the largest influenza outbreaks in recent years. This year the influenza virus variant responsible for the flu was H3N2 and caused an increase in severity and prolongation of symptoms especially cough. Covid-19 and influenza, both being transmitted primarily through the respiratory route, exhibit a commonality in symptoms, making a definitive clinical diagnosis difficult without a laboratory test for confirmation. However, clinical suspicion is the first step in guiding the diagnosis and understanding the symptoms and small differences in them is important. Common signs and symptoms of Covid-19 and influenza The overlap of symptoms between the two conditions is significant. Fever, chills, body aches, headacheand fatigue are common. An itching in the throat leading to inflammation followed by a dry severe cough and a runny or stuffy nose is seen in flu and also with the currently prevailing Omicron variant of covid-19. Breathlessness can occur, especially in those with an existing respiratory condition like asthma. Cough is usually dry in nature and can get prolonged both in H3N2 and with long Covid-19. Other symptoms such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea may manifest along with the respiratory symptoms. Complications of both these conditions can be debilitating and lead to bronchitis, pneumoniaand worsening of pre-existing medical conditions, leading to hospitalization and r...

Years of investment in influenza surveillance in Bangladesh has established a robust system that was capable of detecting a surge in co-circulating influenza A(H3N2) at a time when resources were primarily focused on tackling COVID-19. Bangladesh has two sentinel surveillance platforms for monitoring influenza and severe respiratory diseases. These are jointly governed by the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research. Both have benefited from long-standing investment from the During the COVID-19 pandemic, these influenza surveillance systems were re-purposed to also monitor SARS-CoV-2. The surveillance focus during the pandemic was necessarily on the new SARS-CoV-2 virus. Yet the system still managed to detect an acute surge in influenza A(H3N2) cases in mid to late 2020 (during epidemiological weeks 35 to 45). During those ten weeks, 245 cases of influenza were detected among 1588 collected samples of SARI and ILI by laboratory investigation. The government of Bangladesh used information and analysis from the laboratory and surveillance network to design and launch effective measures to manage the outbreak. As a result of these measures, coupled with the public health and social measures applied for containing COVID-19, influenza A(H3N2) cases gradually started decreasing from early October 2020. Later, selected specimens from the outbreak were sent to the WHO collaborating centre at the US Centre...