Shu B, Wilson MM, Keller MW, Tran H, Sokol T, Lee G, Rambo‐Martin BL, Kirby MK, Hassell N, Haydel D, Hand J, Wentworth DE, Barnes JR. In-field detection and characterization of B/Victoria lineage deletion variant viruses causing early influenza activity and an outbreak in Louisiana, 2019.
Influenza Other Respir Viruses 2024;
18:e13246. [PMID:
38188372 PMCID:
PMC10767671 DOI:
10.1111/irv.13246]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2023] [Accepted: 12/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Background
In 2019, the Louisiana Department of Health reported an early influenza B/Victoria (B/VIC) virus outbreak.
Method
As it was an atypically large outbreak, we deployed to Louisiana to investigate it using genomics and a triplex real-time RT-PCR assay to detect three antigenically distinct B/VIC lineage variant viruses.
Results
The investigation indicated that B/VIC V1A.3 subclade, containing a three amino acid deletion in the hemagglutinin and known to be antigenically distinct to the B/Colorado/06/2017 vaccine virus, was the most prevalent circulating virus within the specimens evaluated (86/88 in real-time RT-PCR).
Conclusion
This work underscores the value of portable platforms for rapid, onsite pathogen characterization.
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