Asian Flu: Encyclopedia - Asian Flu

Asian Flu

Asian Flu was a pandemic outbreak of avian influenza that originated in China in 1957 and spread worldwide that same year, lasting until 1958. Estimates of worldwide casualty numbers vary widely, ranging from one million to four million people.

Asian Flu was of the H2N2 strain (a notation that refers to the configuration of the hemagglutinin and neuraminidase proteins in the virus) of type A influenza, and a flu vaccine was developed in 1957 to contain its outbreak.

The Asian Flu strain later evolved via antigenic shift into H3N2, the so-called Hong Kong Flu, which caused a milder pandemic from 1968 to 1969.

From October 2004 to February 2005, some 3,700 test kits of the 1957 virus were accidentally spread around the world from the College of American Pathologists (CAP). CAP assists laboratories in accuracy by providing unidentified samples of viruses; private contractor Meridian Bioscience in Cincinnati, U.S., chose the 1957 strand instead of one of the newer Influenza A strands. The flu is considered deadly and the U.S. government called for the vials containing the strain to be destroyed.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Asian Flu", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki