Tracking the H3N2v Virus

In the past few weeks, the H3N2v virus has been in the news—a new swine flu that has already resulted in one death in Ohio.

The virus, which is transmitted from pigs to people, caused the U.S. Centers for Disease Control to warn people with serious health problems to avoid contact with pigs.  This includes people with heart disease, asthma, chronic lung disease, or those with a weakened immune system.

So far, the majority of cases have been found in children under the age of 18 who were exposed to the virus at fairs.  Dr. Lyn Finelli, chief of surveillance and outbreak response in the CDC’s influenza division, states that the CDC is asking state and local authorities to aggressively investigate reports of influenza like illness or respiratory infections in schools. She adds that specimens from ill students can be collected and tested for H3N2v.

Please contact us if you’d like to discuss ways to track possible outbreaks of the H3N2v virus with the EpiStart Syndromic Surveillance system.

About Health Monitoring Systems, Inc.

HMS (http://www.hmsinc.com) is a privately held company specializing in healthcare data analysis. The company processes and analyzes health‐related data in real time via a Software‐as‐a‐Service (SaaS) approach. Using this approach, HMS enables clients to increase their understanding of regional health conditions, improve quality and efficiency, and ensure regulatory compliance.