In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was such a low transmission of influenza that some types of influenza viruses may have disappeared.
Thus, two types of influenza viruses have not appeared anywhere in the world in the last year, no cases of disease due to them have been reported, informs Live Science.
Experts do not yet know if these types of flu have disappeared altogether, but if so, it would be much easier to make the flu vaccines and determine the strains to which they are addressed.
„I think he has a chance to disappearSays Trevor Bedford, a biologist at the Seattle Research Center, referring to one of the endangered influenza viruses, H3N2.
For his part, Florian Krammer, a virologist at the New York School of Medicine, said of strain B – Yamagata: “Just because no one has seen him doesn’t mean he’s completely gone, right? But he could have disappeared”.
Every year, scientists prepare the flu vaccine months before the flu season begins, depending on the strains circulating around the world and calculations that may show which of them would be more common next season.
„Undoubtedly, the diversity of influenza viruses in circulation will be changed. How much will be changed and how long will it remain so, these are the main questions. But I’ve never seen anything like it beforeSaid Richard Webby, director of the Center for the Study of Ecology at the World Health Organization (WHO).
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