Subtype vs Strain - Prof Stronzo Bestiale.

I just did a search on google for reassortment leading to novel subtypes of influenza or novel strains of influenza and the results gave me 481 for strain and 219 for subtype. Which is interesting considering the Italian referee whose objection to one of my papers because I did not use enough commas and used the term strain and not subtype. I affectionately call this referee Prof Stronzo Bestiale