Flu gets early but mild start in US and Europe
Source: Reuters
(Recasts with U.S. flu season figures) By Patricia Reaney LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Europe's flu season got off to an early start, according to surveys released on Friday, but the vaccine matches the circulating virus well. The U.S. flu season, which typically starts several weeks earlier, has been mild so far and has not risen to epidemic levels, which suggests an average season for Europe as well. Eight U.S. children infected with influenza have died since it began in October. The influenza virus evolves and mutates every year, but so far the three main strains that are circulating are those that have been expected and were used in this year's vaccines, according to the European Influenza Surveillance Scheme and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The dominant virus that we are seeing in the European influenza system is the A H3 virus, which we know from experience is a more virulent virus than last year's B virus," said Koos van der Velden, chairman of the surveillance program. "Usually people with the A virus are more infectious, sicker for a long period and complications are more likely," he added. The current vaccine protects against the H3 virus, as well as another influenza A virus called H1, and the influenza B virus. Similar activity has been seen in the United States. BIRD FLU FEARS Experts have been keeping a closer than usual eye on flu everywhere since 2003 because of the H5N1 avian flu virus, which has infected 269 people and killed 163 of them. Scientists agree it could mutate, or mix with ordinary annual flu, to cause a pandemic that could kill millions. "We have no evidence that there is any mixing of seasonal virus and bird flu virus," Van der Velden said. Each year an estimated 100,000 people in Europe die from seasonal influenza and 36,000 die in the United States. The global total, according to the World Health Organization, can be as high as 500,000. These include mostly older people but also a number of young, previously healthy children. The virus is spread by coughs and sneezes from an infected person, as well as by touching surfaces where virus-laden droplets have fallen. The normal flu season in Europe runs from December to March. In North America it stretches from October through March. In the United States widespread flu activity was reported by three states -- Indiana, Iowa, and South Carolina. Most states report local and sporadic cases of flu, with 5.6 percent of all flu-like illness being confirmed as influenza on testing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 7.5 percent of all deaths reported last week were due to pneumonia or influenza, just below the 7.7 percent threshold for an epidemic.
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