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Flu update......worth watching. This is being kept very quiet, but.......
1
Nov 18, 2025, 4:47 PM
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Seems in Washington State someone is hospitalized with a bird flu. AND, this is where it's not real good, it's H5N5 bird flu, not the H5N1 version. There is no record of a human ever being infected with the H5N5 strain, EVER. Until now.
Put it another way, the Washington State department of health is actively monitoring OVER 100 healthcare workers exposed to this patient. PLUS, others exposed in the community. SOME of the healthcare workers exposed to this patient have developed flu symptoms, and they're being tested to see if they have this guy's strain, or seasonal flu. The patient has been hospitalized about 2 weeks now, in critical condition on ECMO, a man in his 60's, thought to be infected from backyard birds. Several of his birds have died before he got ill. One key symptom in the few severe bird flu cases seen, is confusion. Everyone has fever, pneumonia, difficulty breathing, aches, etc. But severe confusion seems to be a red flag to check for bird flu.
Anyway, something to watch very closely. And as closely as they're watching this in Washington, they're at least concerned enough to be very diligent. One problem was it took TEN DAYS to diagnose this guy, and he ended up visiting 3 different healthcare facilities, exposing many more people.
The virus has been fully sequenced from the patient, and they're looking at the mutations. So far no mutations that are too concerning, meaning it likely will not pass human to human easily, if at all.
Anyway, here's the news story on it:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-15302099/Washington-resident-hospitalized-virus-never-seen-humans.html
That being said, the influenza going around now in the UK, Japan, and Canada is a more severe (common) strain H3N2, BUT it has mutations that have given it an advantage, and this strain will likely be the dominant strain this season.
"An unexpected strain of the influenza A (H3N2) virus, called subclade K, is driving up case counts in Canada, England, and Japan. Flu seasons are unpredictable, but this rapidly spreading mutation increases the odds that the United States will face a challenging winter."
The current flu vaccine going out has a weak (but not useless) level of protection against this new strain. It's almost certain that H3N2-K will be the dominant flu strain in the US this winter. And it's NOT a mild strain.
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