April 12, 2012, a girl in Utah has become the first child in the U.S. to be infected with H3N2v swine flu, this year. Back at the beginning of March three elderly people died from H3N2 in Maryland.
Utah state officials will not say how old she is. She reportedly recovered after taking tamiflu.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said she became ill after visiting a pig farm. However, many of the previous H3N2 cases in the U.S. did not involve exposure to pigs.
H3N2v is related to H1N1.
In Fahan, Donegal, Ireland, a nursing home has been hit by the virus.
On April 9 it was reported that 14 people had become infected, with six dying.
Government officials reprimanded the nursing home for not reporting the illnesses sooner: “The lesson to be learned is, where you are dealing with vulnerable people in a private or a public nursing home, keep the Department of Health informed when anything … outside the norm occurs so we can help.”-Kathleen Lynch, Minister of State for the Elderly
The European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control said at least 12 old people throughout Europe have died since February 2012 (not counting the recent Irish cases). They also say the number of deaths involving old people is surprising, since most studies are saying it’s children that are most vulnerable to H3N2v.