H3N2 outbreak: Should you be worried?

Every second person is experiencing prolonged post-viral cough, breathlessness and sneezing. Most of these cases are caused by the H3N2 virus, a type of influenza A virus, which is severe, but not as epidemical in nature as the deadly H1N1 virus (swine flu).

The virus derives from types of protein strains of the influenza A virus - hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). HA has over 18 different subtypes, each numbered H1 to H18 while NA has 11 different subtypes, each numbered N1 to N11. The H3N2 is a combination of the two protein strains of the influenza A virus.