In November 1983, a community outbreak of influenza type
A(H3N2)
began in Fairbanks, Alaska. A single type A(H1N1) influenza
isolate
has been reported from Alabama, and sporadic influenza B isolates
have
been reported among young children in Texas and West Virginia.
Details of laboratory-diagnosed influenza infections in the United
States since August follow:
Influenza type A(H3N2): An outbreak of influenza was reported in
Fairbanks, Alaska, beginning in early November. Type A(H3N2)
influenza virus was isolated from a 28-year-old female resident of
Fairbanks on November 7, and subsequently, from three other adults
in
Fairbanks. According to reports from physicians and clinics in
Fairbanks, most of the influenza-like illness has been seen among
adults of working age. Relatively little activity has been noted
among children, and school absentee rates have not increased. In
early December, increased influenza-like illness was reported from
Anchorage and Bethel.
Serologic evidence of A(H3N2) virus infection has been detected
in
a 20-year-old woman with pneumonia, originally admitted to a North
Carolina hospital on October 6. The woman delivered a healthy but
premature child by Cesarean section during the course of her
respiratory illness; she subsequently died, and a post mortem
showed
evidence of extensive interstitial pneumonia. All cultures for
fungi,
bacteria, and viruses during her hospitalization were negative.
The
patient's husband, who had symptoms similar to the woman's
prehospitalization symptoms, recovered without complications. No
evidence of increased respiratory illness had been noted in the
community.
In Nashville, Tennessee, an isolate of influenza A(H3N2) and
evidence of concurrent rotavirus infection were obtained on August
19
from a 1-year-old child with croup. There was no evidence of
increased influenza-like illness in Nashville.
Influenza type A(H1N1): Influenza type A(H1N1) virus was isolated
from specimens collected on October 18 from a 15-year-old male in
Mobile, Alabama. No increase in influenza-like illness was noted
in
Mobile.
Influenza type B: In Nashville, Tennessee, isolates of influenza
type
B virus were obtained on September 22 from a 9-month-old child and
a
6-month-old child with influenza-like illnesses.
In Houston, Texas, isolates of influenza type B have been
obtained
during November from three children, all younger than 1 year old.
In Huntington, West Virginia, an isolate of influenza type B
was
obtained from a 5-year-old female who had onset of illness on
November
14. After remaining febrile for a week, she was hospitalized, and
the
cause of illness was investigated. No evidence of bacterial
infection
was found, and she recovered uneventfully. There has been
increased
respiratory illness in the Huntington area during November.
All the above influenza B virus isolates appear to be from
sporadic cases, although laboratory evidence of more widespread
respiratory illness associated with other viral agents has been
obtained in Huntington, West Virginia, and Houston, Texas,
recently.
Reported by D Thieman, MD, R Howard, Tanana Valley Clinic,
Fairbanks,
D Ritter, J Middaugh, MD, State Epidemiologist, Alaska State Dept
of
Health and Social Svcs; C Van den Horst, MD, D Achtellik, MD, M
Cohen,
MD, J Bowdre, PhD, School of Medicine, University of North
Carolina--Chapel Hill, F Croud, PhD, N McCormack, MD, MP Hines,
DVM,
State Epidemiologist, North Carolina State Dept of Human Resources;
M
Kervina, P Wright, MD, Vanderbilt Medical School, Nashville, S
Fricker, R Hutcheson, Jr, MD, State Epidemiologist, Tennessee State
Dept of Public Health; W Birch, DVM, State Epidemiologist, Alabama
State Dept of Public Health; P Glezen, MD, Baylor School of
Medicine,
Houston, CE Alexander, MD, Acting State Epidemiologist, Texas State
Dept of Health; R Belshe, MD, Marshall University, Huntington, L
Haddy, MS, State Epidemiologist, West Virginia State Dept of
Health;
Div of Field Svcs, Epidemiology Program Office, WHO Collaborating
Center for Influenza, Influenza Br, Div of Viral Diseases, Center
for
Infectious Diseases, CDC.
Editorial Note
Editorial Note: It is not possible with available information to
determine whether influenza activity during the 1983-1984 season
will
be dominated by one virus subtype, as frequently occurs, or whether
each of the recently active subtypes will play a substantial role
as
they did last season. Physicians should keep in mind that the
drug,
amantadine, which is a supplemental measure for preventing
influenza A
infection, is ineffective in preventing or treating type B
infections. Administration of vaccine to persons at high risk (1)
should continue to be promoted. A limited supply of a new
brochure,
"What You Should Know About Influenza and Flu Shots" is available
to
persons concerned with educating the public about control and
treatment of influenza. Requests for single copies should be sent
to
the Influenza Branch, CDC.
Disclaimer
All MMWR HTML documents published before January 1993 are electronic conversions from ASCII text into HTML. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors in the HTML version. Users should not rely on this HTML document, but are referred to the original MMWR paper copy for the official text, figures, and tables. An original paper copy of this issue can be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; telephone: (202) 512-1800. Contact GPO for current prices.
**Questions or messages regarding errors in formatting should be addressed to mmwrq@cdc.gov.
