Hello and welcome to the Osterholm Update, a podcast on COVID-19 and other infectious diseases with Dr. Michael Osterholm.

Dr. Ostrome is an internationally recognized medical detective and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, or CIDRAP, at the University of Minnesota. In this podcast, Dr. O. Strom

draws on nearly 50 years of experience investigating infectious disease outbreaks to provide

straight talk on the latest infectious disease and public health threats. I'm Chris Dahl,

reporter for CidWap News, and I'm Chris Dahl, reporter for Sidrap News,

and I'm your host for these conversations. Welcome back, everyone, to another episode of the

Oström Update podcast. The government shutdown may be over, but the lack of CDC disease

surveillance over that period means we are flying blind, so to speak,

when it comes to COVID, flu, and respiratory syncyticial virus levels in the United States.

Fortunately, our neighbors to the north have been keeping a close eye on respiratory viruses,

and they found something worth keeping an eye on.

Earlier this month, a group of Canadian researchers published a review of early influenza data

for the 2025-26 season that suggests that what appears to be emerging as the dominant sub-strain

has acquired several mutations and doesn't match with the seasonal flu vaccine strains.

That means the vaccine could be significantly less effective against the flu this year.

The strain is already

causing outbreaks in Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom. The team released its data early to

encourage enhanced surveillance in the U.S. This is not the time to be flying blind into the

respiratory virus season, the paper's author told Sidrapp News. The mismatched flu strain,

and what it could mean for this flu season is among the topics

we'll be addressing on this November 20th episode of the Ostorm Update. We'll also discuss Canada's

loss of measles elimination status, preview the vaccine integrity project's upcoming review of the

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