Japan’s flu season comes early as new variant spreads
A new influenza variant spreading across Japan may be behind the increase in early outbreaks this year, the Japan Institute for Health Security (JIHS) has said.The new strain, called “Subclade K” is a variant of the type A flu virus, which typically spreads around the beginning of the flu season, while type B tends to spread later on.Of the influenza patients JIHS examined since September, they found that 22 out of 23 samples — around 96% — were infected with the new strain.
