Hong Kong flu

Hong Kong flu
Hong Kong flu
Disease	Influenza
Virus strain	H3N2 strain of Influenza A virus
Dates	1968–1970
Deaths	1–4 million (estimated)
Fatality rate	0.2%

The Hong Kong flu, also known as the 1968 flu pandemic, was an influenza pandemic that occurred between 1968 and 1970 and which killed between one and four million people globally.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] It is among the deadliest pandemics in history, and was caused by an H3N2 strain of the influenza A virus. The virus was descended from H2N2 (which caused the Asian flu pandemic in 1957–1958) through antigenic shift, a genetic process in which genes from multiple subtypes are reassorted to form a new virus.^[6]^[7]

^ "Pandemic Influenza Risk Management: WHO Interim Guidance" (PDF). World Health Organization. 2013. p. 19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 January 2021.
^ Rogers, Kara (25 February 2010). "1968 flu pandemic". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Open Publishing. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
^ Paul, William E. (2008). Fundamental Immunology. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 1273. ISBN 9780781765190. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
^ "World health group issues alert Mexican president tries to isolate those with swine flu". Associated Press. 25 April 2009. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
^ Mandel, Michael (26 April 2009). "No need to panic... yet Ontario officials are worried swine flu could be pandemic, killing thousands". Toronto Sun. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 26 April 2009.
^ "1968 Pandemic (H3N2 virus)". U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 22 January 2019. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
^ Jester, Barbara J.; Uyeki, Timothy M.; Jernigan, Daniel B. (May 2020). "Fifty Years of Influenza A(H3N2) Following the Pandemic of 1968". American Journal of Public Health. 110 (5): 669–676. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2019.305557. PMC 7144439. PMID 32267748.