{"id":61913,"date":"2025-11-13T18:31:58","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor"},"modified":"2025-11-13T19:27:22","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:27:22","slug":"new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor","title":{"rendered":"New Flu Strain Sparks Alarms Abroad as Experts Monitor"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>Health officials are keeping a close eye on a flu strain that has sparked unusually early and severe outbreaks in Canada, the UK, and Japan, an NBC report said Wednesday, raising concerns about its potential impact in the US.<\/p>\n<p>The strain, a mutated version of H3N2 first detected this summer, has rapidly spread and been linked to rising hospitalizations. \u201cSince it emerged, it\u2019s rapidly spreading and predominating in some countries so far in the Northern Hemisphere,\u201d Dr. Wenqing Zhang, head of the World Health Organization\u2019s Global Respiratory Threats Unit, told a briefing.<\/p>\n<p>Experts warn the strain carries multiple mutations that make it different from the H3N2 component of this year\u2019s seasonal flu vaccine. \u201cThe virus is quite different from the H3N2 strain included in this year\u2019s vaccine,\u201d said Antonia Ho, infectious disease consultant at Scotland\u2019s University of Glasgow.<\/p>\n<p>The UK is reporting flu cases three times higher than at this point last year, according to James Mackey, head of the National Health Service.<\/p>\n<p>Canada is also experiencing an early surge, said virologist Angela Rasmussen of the University of Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n<p>In Japan, flu cases in Tokyo are nearly six times higher than at the same time last year, forcing partial closures at more than 2,300 schools and day care centers, Nippon TV reported.<\/p>\n<p>It remains unclear how extensively the strain has spread elsewhere, including the US. While flu A cases have been reported, comprehensive national data are lacking due to staffing shortages at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/p>\n<p>Even if this year\u2019s vaccine is not a perfect match for the mutated H3N2, experts urge vaccination. The annual flu shot is designed to reduce severity and prevent hospitalization.<\/p>\n<p>Preliminary evidence from the UK indicates the current vaccine may still be up to 40% effective in keeping adults out of hospital.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Mauritius<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Mauritius. Health officials are keeping a close eye on a flu strain that has sparked unusually early and severe outbreaks in Canada, the UK, and Japan, an NBC report said Wednesday, raising concerns about its potential impact in the US. The strain, a mutated version of H3N2 first detected this summer, has rapidly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":61912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[1232,7033,1419,241,1318,1871],"class_list":["post-61913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-canada","tag-flu","tag-japan","tag-mauritius","tag-uk","tag-us"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Flu Strain Sparks Alarms Abroad as Experts Monitor - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Health officials are keeping a close eye on a flu strain that has sparked unusually early and severe outbreaks in Canada ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Flu Strain Sparks Alarms Abroad as Experts Monitor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Health officials are keeping a close eye on a flu strain that has sparked unusually early and severe outbreaks in Canada ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-13T18:31:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-13T19:27:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/sm_1763049336.920012.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"864\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"486\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"New Flu Strain Sparks Alarms Abroad as Experts Monitor\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-13T18:31:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-13T19:27:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor\"},\"wordCount\":330,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2025\/11\/sm_1763049336.920012.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Canada\",\"flu\",\"Japan\",\"Mauritius\",\"UK\",\"US\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/new-flu-strain-sparks-alarms-abroad-as-experts-monitor\",\"name\":\"New Flu Strain Sparks Alarms Abroad as Experts Monitor - 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