Influenza H3N2v Virus on Hawaï

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports a human infection with an influenza A(H3N2)v Virus in Hawaii.

The patient is a child younger than 18 years of age, was not hospitalized, and has recovered from its illness. While no exposure to swine has been reported to date, an investigation is ongoing into the source of the patient’s infection.

According to officials, this is the first influenza A(H3N2)v virus infection detected in the United States since 2018.

The CDC describes variant influenza viruses as follows:
When an influenza virus that normally circulates in swine (but not people) is detected in a person, it is called a “variant influenza virus.” For example, if a swine origin influenza A H3N2 virus is detected in a person, that virus will be called an “H3N2 variant” virus or “H3N2v” virus.

Most commonly, human infections with variant viruses have occurred in people exposed to infected pigs (e.g. children near pigs at a fair or workers in the swine industry). In addition, there have been documented cases of multiple persons becoming sick after exposure to one or more sick pigs. Also some cases of limited person-to-person spread of variant viruses have occurred.