Media Coverage
Speights in Mashable and Yahoo: How Doctors Predicted the Hong Kong Flu
Feb 01, 2018
Shane Speights, D.O., dean and associate professor of Medicine, NYITCOM at A-State, was featured in the Mashable and Yahoo articles,“We Saw This Deadly 'Hong Kong' Flu Coming, But No One Could Prevent Its Spread.”
According to the story, experts watched flu activity unfold in Australia in 2017, where the Hong Kong flu (formally known as the H3N2 strain) was dominant, and knew what to expect and prepared as best as they could. However, in this strain's typical fashion, it likely mutated, rendering vaccines less effective and resulting in the virus’ remarkable 2018 spread. Speights notes that doctors predict what flu will hit the U.S., and accordingly, what vaccines to produce, based upon which influenza strain has been dominant in places like Australia. "Every year we look at the Southern Hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere dictates what goes into our vaccine," he says.