Influenza B

From MEpedia, a crowd-sourced encyclopedia of ME and CFS science and history

The main flu (influenza) stains affecting humans are influenza type A strains and influenza type B strains. Both influenza A and B consist of a number of different strains that circulate across the world, with infections peaking each winter.[1]

Strains[edit | edit source]

Influenza type B strains are classified into two lineages:

  • Yamagata
  • Victoria

Each of these can be classified further into subtypes and variants.[1]

Pandemic flu[edit | edit source]

Influenza type B strains have not been known to cause pandemics; all pandemics traced have been influenza type A strains, including the Spanish flu (1918-1919), and the H1N1 swine flu (2009-2010) pandemics.[1][2]

Influenza vaccines[edit | edit source]

Annual influenza vaccines protect against both groups of inflenza B, and many subtypes of inflenza A virus.[3]

See also[edit | edit source]

Learn more[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Types of Influenza Viruses". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.
  2. Anhlan, Darisuren; Grundmann, Norbert; Makalowski, Wojciech; Ludwig, Stephan; Scholtissek, Christoph (January 2011). "Origin of the 1918 pandemic H1N1 influenza A virus as studied by codon usage patterns and phylogenetic analysis". RNA. 17 (1): 64–73. doi:10.1261/rna.2395211. ISSN 1355-8382. PMC 3004067. PMID 21068184.
  3. "Key Facts About Seasonal Flu Vaccine". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 11, 2021.