Maine CDC Health Advisory
January 22, 2025
U.S. CDC: Accelerated Subtyping of Influenza A in Hospitalized Patients
Please take a moment to review this information on accelerating subtyping of influenza A in hospitalized patients in the U.S.
To date, no human cases of H5N1 have been detected in Maine. Risk to the general public remains low. People with job- or recreation-related exposures to infected animals are at increased risk of H5N1 infection, especially when those exposures happen without use of appropriate personal protective equipment.
To monitor for possible H5N1 infection, the Maine CDC continues to request that all influenza-positive specimens come to Maine Health and Environmental Testing Laboratory (HETL) for subtyping.
- If the specimen has already been subtyped and is positive for influenza A H1 or H3 it does not need to come to HETL. Specimens should be accompanied by a completed HETL requisition form, indicating influenza A/B RT-PCR. The influenza requisition form can be found at https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/public-health-systems/health-and-environmental-testing/micro/download-forms.htm
- Specimens from hospitalized patients and persons with high-risk exposures will be prioritized and should be indicated on the requisitions form. Due to high volume, specimens from non-hospitalized patients without a known exposure may be tested for surveillance purposes only and results may not be reported to the ordering provider.
- Laboratory submission information can be found at https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/public-health-systems/health-and-environmental-testing/micro/documents/Influenza-Detection-by-Real-Time-RT-PCR.pdf