New Flu Virus Hits Northeast, May Reach Cambridge Area

A new strain of flu virus now spreading through the Northeast could reach Harvard, Dr. Sholem Postel, acting director of the University Health Services (UHS), said yesterday.

The new virus, named "A Texas" because it was first isolated in a Texas laboratory, has already spread through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, parts of New York and southern Connecticut.

A Texas originated in the Caribbean in the fall of 1976 and spread from there to the United States. A spokes woman for the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Ga., said yesterday the disease is a variant of the A Victoria virus, the most common strain of the flu in America in the past several years.

Beware

UHS doctors expect some of the new strain to hit here, Postel said. He said it was impossible to predict how serious an outbreak of the new flu could be at Harvard.

Dr. Cathryn Samples of the Connecticut Department of Health said yesterday the A Texas strain has caused large-scale absences from school in most of southwestern Connecticut. Samples said the virus had been detected as far north as Hartford.

Dr. Joseph P. Reardon of the Massachusetts Center for Communicable Diseases said yesterday he expects at least some of the A Texas strain to reach Massachusetts, although none has yet been reported.

Postel said A Texas is no more dangerous than the common A Victoria virus. He added that anyone innoculated against A Victoria may even have been somewhat immunized to A Texas