US Dept of Defense Tracking

[mixin]

A couple of points from recent reports caught my attention. Here is one from the latest update at one of the sites. I wonder how much is "lesser so"? We're not hearing much about how mis-matched the vax is.

Influenza surveillance throughout South and Southeast Asia continues to show a predominance of pH1N1 with continued increases in seasonal A/H3N2; sequence analysis of these H3N2 viruses suggest a close alignment with the Southern Hemisphere H3N2 vaccine strain but lesser so for the current Northern Hemisphere H3N2 vaccine strain.

http://fhp.osd.mil/aiWatchboard/pdf/AFHSC Weekly Influenza Surveillance Summary-22 December.pdf

From the Air Force, Nov 15-21. Interestingly, only 25.3% of the tests were positive for flu.

Total Influenza Positive Cumulative %: 53.3% (1,724/3,232)
Weekly % Flu Pos: 25.3% (38/150)

Here they talk about what I assume is the D225 mutation. It might be reassuring that they noted that of the 6, no one died and none indicated particularly significant disease.

Media reports this week indicated increased morbidity/mortality associated with a specific mutation in the HA1 gene of Pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 (pH1N1) in specimens from Norway.

USAFSAM examined DoD-sequenced pH1N1 specimens (collected 27 Aug - 5 Oct from AL, ND, OH and TX) with a different mutation at the same position. Of six at USAFSAM, one was hospitalized overnight; of four with additional clinical information, none indicated particularly significant disease. There were no deaths. USAFSAM shared this data with the CDC.

WHO reports that there is insufficient evidence that this mutation results in an increase in the number of severe or fatal cases.

http://airforcemedicine.afms.mil/idc/groups/public/documents/afms/ctb_127770.pdf