As New Flu Variant Spreads in US, Researchers Unsure If More Severe Than Usual

‘We’re still in the middle of trying to figure out whether it’s producing worse illness,’ one researcher says.

A nurse at Three Rivers Asante Medical Center runs to a room in the Intensive Care Unit to help as medical staff treat a COVID-19 patient in Grants Pass, Ore., on Sept. 9, 2021. Nathan Howard/Getty Images

Areas across the United States and Europe are seeing an increase in a new influenza variant, researchers say, although it’s not yet clear if a new flu variant is causing more severe disease than usual in people.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its most recent update that an influenza variant, called H3N2 subclade K, is dominating. Of the 163 influenza A(H3N2) viruses, which are the most frequently reported strains, collected since September, around 89 percent belonged to subclade K, the agency said.