{"id":33489,"date":"2023-03-18T11:59:08","date_gmt":"2023-03-18T06:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=33489"},"modified":"2025-04-19T22:49:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T17:19:57","slug":"flu-cases-rising-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/flu-cases-rising-in-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Flu Cases Rising in India"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>H3N2 Virus<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the H3N2 Virus?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Is H3N2 a new sub-type of influenza?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>News Summary: Flu cases rising in India<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Why is there an increase in flu cases?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Have Covid-19 cases spiked as well?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Is it unusual for people to die of the flu?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Why is the flu shot updated every year?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Centre last week reviewed the rise in cases of influenza, and states have been readying hospitals for a possible spike in infections.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Union Health Ministry has confirmed a death each in Haryana and Karnataka due to the H3N2 subtype of the flu virus this month.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>H3N2 Virus<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>What is the H3N2 Virus?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Influenza viruses, which cause the infectious disease known as flu, are of four different types: A, B, C and D.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Influenza A is further classified into different subtypes and one of them is the H3N2.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/2l5zWXi7Y_5Nm-GPGrSl0TROgM9b0483SCyoikQKa6SOFB5udQaJhxAUC5HvcpIA92I8VjpITUXW51EojaqLiTISxs3k-IfMr97AKuZxW3_MhwTCRjQlATh6SFK-_t3ofSRWocorPIWLuhliFaytcQ\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Image Caption: H3N2 Influenza\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Is H3N2 a new sub-type of influenza?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>No, it is one of the sub-types of the influenza virus that has been known to cause seasonal infections. In fact, H3N2 caused a flu pandemic back in 1968.<\/li>\n<li>In India, this sub-type was detected in 1996 and has since caused outbreaks too.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The only difference this year is that the disease seems to be a little more severe than we would usually see with H3N2.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>News Summary: Flu cases rising in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong>Why is there an increase in flu cases?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Flu season<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Officials and experts said the current spike is because, first, this is the flu season.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>India usually sees two flu peaks every year \u2014 between January and March and, post-monsoon, between August and October.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>The virus spreads as the season changes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lower immunity<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Fewer flu infections during the pandemic has resulted in a large reservoir of people with lower immunity.\n<ul>\n<li>The two pandemic years, 2020 and 2021, reported only 2,752 and 778 cases of the flu respectively.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Every year there is a subclinical spread of influenza and people acquire some immunity to it.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>But during the pandemic, people masked up, stayed away from crowded areas, avoided gatherings, and this spread could not occur. Hence, there is an increase this year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Changing nature of flu virus<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The flu virus is prone to changing its structure. This means that we see an increase in flu cases usually every other year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Availability of flu shot<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>India\u2019s burden of conditions like diabetes and heart disease \u2014 which are risk factors for severe disease \u2014 is huge even among the young.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The yearly flu shot is not readily available in government set-ups, and its uptake is not high.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Have Covid-19 cases spiked as well?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>At least two states, Gujarat and Maharashtra, have reported a new sub-variant of the novel coronavirus, XBB.1.16.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, very few genome sequences are available, and not much is known about the sub-variant yet.<\/li>\n<li>Researchers have said that although there seems to be a growth advantage \u2014 seeing as it is replacing previously dominant variants \u2014 whether it could lead to a surge or to severe cases is not known.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Hospitals are still reporting Covid-19 cases with upper respiratory tract symptoms and fever, similar to what is seen with the flu.<\/li>\n<li>The Centre has written to six states \u2014 Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Maharashtra \u2014 asking them to carry out:\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>adequate and proactive testing,\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>monitor new and emerging clusters of infections,\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>keep an eye on influenza like illnesses (ILI) coming to health facilities, and\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>send samples of international travellers, sentinel sites, and clusters for genomic sequencing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Is it unusual for people to die of the flu?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Flu causes mild symptoms like fever, cough, and runny nose in most people.<\/li>\n<li>However, like Covid, it can lead to complications like pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that can lead to death.<\/li>\n<li>Very young children, old people, people with comorbidities such as heart disease, diabetes, and kidney disease, pregnant women, and those with a weakened immune system are at higher risk of getting severe disease.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why is the flu shot updated every year?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The flu vaccine usually contains four subtypes \u2014 two each of influenza A (H1N1 and H3N2 are recommended for 2022-23) and influenza B.<\/li>\n<li>The list of subtypes to be included in the yearly flu shot is <u>updated by the World Health Organisation twice a year<\/u> depending on the types in circulation.<\/li>\n<li>The ICMR network of viral laboratories test respiratory samples throughout the year to continuously update the vaccine.\n<ul>\n<li>This is because of the constantly evolving nature of influenza viruses.<\/li>\n<li>It can undergo an \u201c<i><strong>antigenic drift<\/strong><\/i>\u201d to acquire mutations that change the part that cause the body to elicit an immune response.<\/li>\n<li>It can also undergo an \u201c<i><strong>antigenic shift<\/strong><\/i>\u201d \u2014 an abrupt, major change that leads to a new protein structure of the virus.\n<ul>\n<li>These shifts can lead to pandemics such as the one in 2009, or even the Spanish flu of 1918.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is flu?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Influenza, commonly known as &#8220;the flu,&#8221; is a contagious respiratory illness caused by the influenza virus. It can cause a range of symptoms, from mild to severe, including fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, fatigue, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2)<\/strong> <strong>What is Covid-19?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) is an infectious respiratory illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. It was first identified in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and has since become a global pandemic, affecting millions of people worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-health\/flu-cases-increasing-what-is-driving-the-surge-8502081\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Flu cases rising in India, what is driving the surge?<\/u><\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-health\/h3n2-virus-deaths-india-symptoms-prevention-8489731\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>Indian Express<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>H3N2 is a subtype of the influenza A virus, which is a common cause of seasonal flu in humans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":33490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-33489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}