New Flu Strain H3N2 Causes Alarm As Some Nations Are Swamped With Cases
The strain emerged in June after the makeup of this year's flu shots had already been determined. Cases in the U.K. are already triple from the same time last year, and cases in Japan have surged to nearly six times from last year. In the U.S., experts warn of uncertainty because the CDC has not released a national flu report since Sept. 26 due to the government shutdown.
NBC News:
Warnings Rise For U.S. As Severe Flu Strain H3N2 Causes Outbreaks In Canada, U.K.
As flu season gets underway, global health experts are increasingly worried about a new strain of the virus that popped up in June — four months after the makeup of this year’s flu shots had been decided. The new strain, a version of H3N2, is causing outbreaks in Canada and the U.K., where health officials are warning about the early wave that’s sending people to the hospital. (Edwards, 11/12)
The Guardian:
Pediatricians Fill Vaccine Messaging Void Left By CDC Amid Bad Flu Season
As flu season begins in the US, following the deadliest flu outbreak in children outside of a pandemic since record-keeping began in 2004, pediatricians are taking the lead on vaccine messaging. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not plan to resume its “wild to mild” flu vaccination campaign, which was halted in the midst of the record-breaking flu season. (Schreiber, 11/11)
More health and wellness news —
The Guardian:
High Blood Pressure Rates In Children Nearly Doubled In 20 Years, Global Review Finds
The rate of children and teenagers living with high blood pressure globally has nearly doubled because of a toxic combination of unhealthy diets, mass inactivity and soaring levels of obesity, according to the largest review of its kind. Experts said 114 million children who have developed hypertension even before reaching adulthood were facing potentially deadly and lifelong harm, including cardiovascular disease, kidney disease and a myriad of serious health complications. (Gregory, 11/12)
Newsweek:
Scientists Find A Surprising New Trigger For Migraines
Food, stress, sleep and weather may not be the only triggers to consider when preventing migraines—how stable your daily routine is could play an important role too. Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers used a total “surprisal score” to measure the unexpectedness of a participant’s daily experiences, revealing it was associated with risk of an upcoming migraine attack. (Millington, 11/12)
The New York Times:
Scientists Grow More Hopeful About Ending A Global Organ Shortage
At an international conference, researchers at the forefront of animal-human transplantation compared notes and allowed themselves the first real optimism in decades. (Rabin, 11/12)
On the use of ChatGPT —
Axios:
OpenAI's GPT-5.1 Has More Personality, Raising Questions Of Risk
The latest AI models powering ChatGPT just learned to be friendlier, improving the experience for people who use chatbots responsibly. It could be a problem for those who don't or can't. As chatbots become more human-like in their behavior, it could increase the risks of unhealthy attachments, or a kind of trust that goes beyond what the products are built to handle. (Morrone, 11/13)
The Washington Post:
How People Really Use ChatGPT, According To 47,000 Of Its Conversations
What do people ask the popular chatbot? We analyzed thousands of chats to identify common topics discussed by users and patterns in ChatGPT’s responses. (De Vynck and Merrill, 11/12)
