Hands-off learning. CDC recommends that children wash their
hands after being near pigs. Credit: Muffet/Liz West An unusual
influenza virus has caught the attention of public health
officials because it has rapidly spread from pigs at U.S. county
fairs to children. The virus, a variant of an H3N2 strain that
seasonally infects humans, has not caused severe disease. Scant
evidence exists that it can spread between people, and the vast
majority of cases are in two states. Epidemiologist Joseph
Bresee of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) in Atlanta explained in a teleconference today that 145
cases have been confirmed since 12 July, a big jump from last
week when CDC tallied only 16 confirmed cases since that date.
“This is clearly a significant increase since last week’s
total,” he said, adding that this reflects increased testing and
the large number of county fairs now taking place. Bresee said
that more than 90% of the cases occurred in children, most of
whom had direct or indirect co