The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed three cases of
a new flu virus, which originated in pigs but apparently spread from
person to person in three Iowa children. However, there’s no reason to
fear the beginning of a new pandemic, says Arnold Monto, a flu expert
and professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. The
CDC has counted a total of 18 cases of this new virus, an influenza A
strain known as S-OtrH3N2, in two years. That suggests that it’s not
spreading quickly or easily, experts say. All three of the Iowa children
had mild illness, the CDC reports. The virus also seems treatable with
standard anti-viral drugs. The 10 cases of H3N2 in 2011 also have been
spread throughout the U.S. – in Pennsylvania, Maine, Indiana and Iowa –
which doesn’t indicate a disease “cluster” or outbreak, officials say.
