Wow!

Thanks, Mike

I haven’t heard of any updated vaccines for influenza “clade K”, anywhere.

Most doses are given to Australians in our autumn which was 6+ months ago - protection will have waned a lot by now, adding to the problem.

Why do you use chickpea flour? Has it got special qualities?

So, Australians who had flu shots this year won't be protected from this like they otherwise may think?
Or does Australia have a freshly available needle for this?

Interactive dataviz, code, acknowledgements and more info here:
github.com/Mike-Honey/c...
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Sadly, that seems unlikely in any Australian jurisdiction, leaving the most vulnerable in our society to bear the impact into December.
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Some encouraging news from Japan, where their wave of "clade K" looks quite short and sharp. Note they did pre-emptively return to masking in healthcare settings, well before the wave peaked.
threadreaderapp.com/thread/19969...
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"Activity" (patients in the ED) has been in the “white” zone (off the charts) continuously over that period. The peak on Friday night was around double capacity.
www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/conn...
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South Australia’s fragile hospital system looks to have been smashed by this second influenza wave. Here’s the Emergency Dept dashboard for LMH in northern Adelaide showing the last ~48 hours.
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Here’s the picture for Australia, comparing to the last few years to highlight how unusual this season is. In recent years, we hit the bottom of the inter-season trough in October.
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With "clade K" featuring 7 new mutations and evading the 2025 vaccines, I expect many relying on immunity from their earlier 2025 infection are getting a second influenza infection for the year.
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The latest Australian Respiratory Surveillance Report confirms my earlier speculation that the new "clade K" (H3N2 clade 2a.3a.1, subclade K) is driving the "unusual" second wave of influenza in Australia.
www.health.gov.au/resources/pu...
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Western Australia had been spared the worst of this second wave until the last week or so. But now there’s a signal of a sharp change in case momentum there also.
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