Effect of human H3N2 influenza virus reassortment on influenza incidence and severity during the 2017-18 influenza season in the USA: a retrospective observational genomic analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

During the 2017-18 influenza season in the USA, there was a high incidence of influenza illness and mortality. However, no apparent antigenic change was identified in the dominant H3N2 viruses, and the severity of the season could not be solely attributed to a vaccine mismatch. We aimed to investigate whether the altered virus properties resulting from gene reassortment were underlying causes of the increased case number and disease severity associated with the 2017-18 influenza season.

Methods

Samples included were collected from patients with influenza who were prospectively recruited during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 influenza seasons at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Emergency Departments in Baltimore, MD, USA, as well as from archived samples from Johns Hopkins Heal

SUBMITTER: Liu H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11338072 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature