{"id":193094,"date":"2025-12-20T08:05:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T08:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/193094\/"},"modified":"2025-12-20T08:05:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T08:05:07","slug":"doctors-warn-of-super-flu-variant-circulating-in-hot-spots-across-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/193094\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors warn of \u2018super flu\u2019 variant circulating in hot spots across the country"},"content":{"rendered":"

(NewsNation<\/a>) \u2014 Cities across the nation are being hit with a new variant of influenza called subclade K<\/a>, which has been dubbed a \u201csuper flu,\u201d and certain states and cities, like New York City, are seeing the worst of it.<\/p>\n

As the nation\u2019s largest city preps for the holiday tourist rush, local health officials<\/a> reported nearly 14,000 flu cases in the first week of December.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a roughly 460 percent increase in infections from the same time last year, when the city recorded about 2,500 cases.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see the sudden spike in New York because of their more dense population. They\u2019re a center for international as well as domestic travel,\u201d Dr. Ulysses Wu, chief epidemiologist at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, told NewsNation.<\/p>\n

Dr. Andrew Pekosz, an infectious disease specialist with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says the data shows that the \u201csuper flu\u201d strain, or subclade K, is spreading everywhere that influenza is.<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado, Louisiana and New York are [states] that are experiencing really fast increases in influenza,\u201d Pekosz said Tuesday during a public health media briefing. \u201cBut even in places like Maryland right now, where cases are not that high, it\u2019s the [sub]clade K virus that seems to be the dominant virus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even with a slower start, 2024 was part of the \u201cmost severe\u201d influenza season<\/a> since 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).<\/p>\n

This flu season started early and has made its mark around the globe, despite peak season still months away.<\/p>\n

Doctors warn the particularly nasty, mutated version of influenza \u2014 the so-called \u201csuper flu\u201d \u2014 is already circulating in most corners of the country.<\/p>\n

What is the new subclade K strain of influenza A?<\/p>\n

The new variant emerged over the summer and rapidly spread in several countries, including Japan, the United Kingdom and Canada.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a mutation of the H3N2 strain of influenza A, described by the World Health Organization as a seasonal respiratory infection<\/a> caused by a virus.<\/p>\n

Pekosz said in two to three months, by the end of flu season, every state will experience high amounts of influenza activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just don\u2019t know exactly when each state will start and end in terms of those outbreaks,\u201d Pekosz said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Super flu\u2019 symptoms: What to know about subclade K<\/p>\n

Symptoms are similar for both influenza A and its subclade K variant, both of which are more typically more serious than influenza B.<\/p>\n

Signs include fever, cough, sore throat, congestion, body aches, headaches and fatigue, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n

\u201cInfluenza A typically causes worse symptoms compared to influenza B, and patients are more likely to get hospitalized with influenza A compared to influenza B,\u201d Dr. Donald Dumford, an infectious disease specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, told Nexstar.<\/a><\/p>\n

How to prevent \u2018super flu\u2019 subclade K variant<\/p>\n

Despite subclade K developing after this year\u2019s flu shot had already been created, doctors are urging people to get vaccinated.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne hundred thousand Americans died last year from a very robust influenza season,\u201d Wu said. \u201cThere are prevention methods like vaccines, immunotherapy that can help prevent complications.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wearing a mask, covering your coughs and sneezes, washing your hands and cleaning frequently touched surfaces can also slow the spread. If you get sick, doctors advise avoiding contact with other people and staying home for at least 24 hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is certainly not too late, especially as we\u2019re thinking about holiday gatherings and travel,\u201d said Pekosz. \u201cNow would be a great time for individuals to go out and get that last influenza vaccine or that COVID vaccine to provide one layer of protection for this holiday season.\u201d<\/p>\n

NewsNation\u2019s Steph Whiteside<\/a> and Anna Kutz contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(NewsNation) \u2014 Cities across the nation are being hit with a new variant of influenza called subclade K,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[120035,134,13347,120034,111,139,69,120036],"class_list":["post-193094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-andrew-pekosz","tag-health","tag-influenza","tag-influenza-season","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-variant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}