Likely H3N2v In Ashland Kentucky Without Swine Contact
Recombinomics.com
August 16, 2012
The first cases of seasonal flu have been confirmed in Kentucky.
The Ashland Boyd County Health Department says so far, all cases have been the H3N2 strain but none are linked to swine exposure found in Ohio.
The above comments describe six influenza A positive cases that are largely from children under the age of five who did not have swine exposure. Ashland is about 20 miles from the Gallia outbreak that involved over 200 symptomatic cases at the Gallia County Fair.
The children in Ashland were influenza A positive when tested by local practitioners, and sent to the county labs because of the proximity to the Gallia outbreak (and now West Virginia has also confirmed H3N2v cases at Mason County Fair near Gallia)
It is likely that the Kentucky cases being characterized as seasonal H3N2 are in fact H3N2v.
Recombinomics has a call into the Kentucky State Lab in Frankfort.
