What Is the ‘Super Flu’ That Is Spreading in Europe and the United States?
wired.com••general
Key Points:
- The 2024-25 influenza season is the most severe since 2017-18 in the US, with an early and intense outbreak also occurring in the UK, where the flu spread earlier than any season since 2003-04.
- A new variant of influenza A H3N2, called subclade K, has multiple mutations allowing it to partially evade immunity from previous infections and vaccines, accounting for 87% of H3N2 viruses detected since late August 2025 in the UK.
- Despite media use of the term "super flu," this new variant is not more deadly than previous H3N2 strains; the increased severity is attributed to the scale and early timing of the outbreak, with 287 child
