Cases of the new “'subclade K” super-flu are “ballooning” in the UK, said NHS England. Its latest figures show that the number of flu patients admitted to hospital is up 50% on the same period last year, and an “incredible” 10 times higher than in 2023.

This “troublesome mutant” flu virus is a variant of influenza A H3N2, said London’s The Standard . And H3N2 generally tends to cause more severe illness and hospital admissions than influenza A H1N1, which has been more dominant in the UK in recent years. Subclade K of H3N2 is now the predominant flu virus in the UK and Japan, and samples taken in the US and Canada seem to show a similar trend.

What exactly is subclade K?

It’s part of the H3N2 flu virus “family” but it has undergone several mutations that have caused a distinct “gene

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