San Diego County’s public-health laboratory has picked up a new H3N2 offshoot, known as subclade K, in local patient samples, putting the region on the front line of what is shaping up to be an early and fast-moving flu wave. Sequencing flagged the strain’s genetic fingerprint in four specimens, including one collected in late September and three from December, just as flu activity started ramping up across the county. The finding lands at the same time local flu cases and emergency-department visits for flu-like illness are rising, which is exactly why county health leaders are turning up the volume on flu-shot reminders.
According to reporting from the San Diego Union-Tribune, the county’s new public-health lab confirmed subclade K through genetic analysis of…..