On December 18, 2025, consultants printed an article in JAMA Network warning {that a} extreme sort of influenza A(H3N2) virus could turn out to be frequent this season. The H3N2 flu virus first emerged in 1968, and in that yr’s flu season, the H3N2 pressure led to an estimated a million deaths worldwide. This yr, there have been widespread studies of infections from an H3N2 flu virus that is known as subclade K. H3N2 flu viruses are inclined to evolve quicker, trigger extra extreme sickness, and have a tendency to have larger mortality charges in older adults than different varieties. This yr’s vaccine, whereas nonetheless offering some safety in opposition to extreme flu, can be not well-matched to the H3N2 pressure. Vaccination continues to be vital, nonetheless.
“Getting vaccinated as quickly as doable stays the only most vital motion folks can do to guard themselves and their households,” mentioned Frederick G. Hayden, MD, a professor emeritus on the College of Virginia Faculty of Drugs. The flu vaccine continues to be really useful by consultants for anybody over the age of six months outdated.
Now, a number of US states and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) have reported very high levels of flu activity in the US. Two American youngsters have additionally died from the flu to date this yr, in response to the CDC. The latest knowledge on wastewater surveillance, from December 18, 2025, reveals that flu exercise is taken into account average in seven states and excessive in Connecticut. Flu exercise tends to peak between December and February.
Another study reported in BMJ has decided that this yr’s flu season within the UK is a nasty one, which has additionally been fueled by the subclade Okay variant of H3N2. Japan and Taiwan also reported severe flu seasons. There was a major surge in flu cases in Australia as properly; all of these surges are blmaed on subclade Okay, which is now being dubbed a ‘superflu’ by some media shops.
“The UK bought hit fairly laborious by this,” as did Europe and Australia, mentioned Neil Maniar, director of the grasp of public well being program at Northeastern College. “I feel that is a reasonably good harbinger of what we’re more likely to see right here. That is going to be a really troublesome flu season.”
Sources: JAMA Network, BMJ, CDC, Northeastern University
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