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Ever since the first human outbreak of avian influenza in Hong Kong in 1997, public health officials and epidemiologists have worried about the possibility that animal influenza viruses will adapt to allow efficient human-to-human transmission. In 2009, a swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus, referred to as pH1N1, did just that, with devastating pandemic results.
Now, public health authorities in Iowa have reported three cases of a novel swine-origin influenza A (H3N2) infection occurring in children who had no known contact with swine but who did have contact with one another shortly before the first case. All three children tested positive for influenza A on rapid testing and experienced only mild febrile respiratory illness. An additiona…