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- Title
Influenza A (H3N2) outbreak, Nepal.
- Authors
Daum, Luke T; Shaw, Michael W; Klimov, Alexander I; Canas, Linda C; Macias, Elizabeth A; Niemeyer, Debra; Chambers, James P; Renthal, Robert; Shrestha, Sanjaya K; Acharya, Ramesh P; Huzdar, Shankar P; Rimal, Nirmal; Myint, Khin S; Gould, Philip
- Abstract
In July 2004, an outbreak of influenza A (H3N2) was detected at 3 Bhutanese refugee camps in southeastern Nepal. Hemagglutination inhibition showed that approximately 40% of the viruses from this outbreak were antigenically distinct from the A/Wyoming/3/03 vaccine strain. Four amino acid differences were observed in most of the 26 isolates compared with the A/Wyoming/3/2003 vaccine strain. All 4 substitutions are located within or adjacent to known antibody-binding sites. Several isolates showed a lysine-to-asparagine substitution at position 145 (K145N) in the hemagglutinin molecule, which may be noteworthy since position 145 is located within a glycosylation site and adjacent to an antibody-binding site. H3N2 viruses continue to drift from the vaccine strain and may remain as the dominant strains during the 2005-2006 influenza season. Thus, the 2005-2006 Northern Hemisphere vaccine strain was changed to A/California/7/2004, a virus with all 4 amino acid substitutions observed in these Nepalese isolates.
- Publication
Emerging infectious diseases, 2005, Vol 11, Issue 8, p1186
- ISSN
1080-6040
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.3201/eid1108.050302