April 14th, 2012

Podcast 151: Most people above age 10 have at least some cross-reactive antibodies to variant influenza

Influenza A (H3N2)v — a novel flu virus that emerged last summer and shows signs of being able to transmit itself from person to person — is our topic this week.

The virus carries genes from swine and avian flu viruses, and the few cases found in the U.S. all made complete recovery.

We talk with CDC epidemiologists involved in assessing the threat, and they’re reassuring on two fronts: first of all, most of the population shows at least some cross-reactive antibody to the virus; and second, they’ve isolated a candidate vaccine virus that they would use in the event that A (H3N2)v started showing increased ability for person-to-person transmission.

Links:

Comments are closed.

Clinical Conversations

About the Podcast

Comments, suggestions, and story ideas welcome. Learn more about Clinical Conversations.

Follow us:
Follow on Apple Podcasts

Follow on Google Podcasts

Follow on Spotify