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. 2016 Mar 31;11(3):e0152310.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0152310. eCollection 2016.

Temporal Patterns of Influenza A and B in Tropical and Temperate Countries: What Are the Lessons for Influenza Vaccination?

Saverio Caini  1 , Winston Andrade  2 , Selim Badur  3 , Angel Balmaseda  4 , Amal Barakat  5 , Antonino Bella  6 , Abderrahman Bimohuen  5 , Lynnette Brammer  7 , Joseph Bresee  7 , Alfredo Bruno  8 , Leticia Castillo  9 , Meral A Ciblak  3 , Alexey W Clara  10 , Cheryl Cohen  11   12 , Jeffery Cutter  13 , Coulibaly Daouda  14 , Celina de Lozano  15 , Domenica De Mora  8 , Kunzang Dorji  16 , Gideon O Emukule  17 , Rodrigo A Fasce  2 , Luzhao Feng  18 , Walquiria Aparecida Ferreira de Almeida  19 , Raquel Guiomar  20 , Jean-Michel Heraud  21 , Olha Holubka  22 , Q Sue Huang  23 , Herve A Kadjo  14 , Lyazzat Kiyanbekova  24 , Herman Kosasih  25 , Gabriela Kusznierz  26 , Jenny Lara  27 , Ming Li  18 , Liza Lopez  23 , Phuong Vu Mai Hoang  28 , Cláudio Maierovitch Pessanha Henriques  19 , Maria Luisa Matute  29 , Alla Mironenko  22 , Brechla Moreno  30 , Joshua A Mott  17 , Richard Njouom  31 , Nurhayati  25 , Akerke Ospanova  24 , Rhonda Owen  32 , Richard Pebody  33 , Kate Pennington  32 , Simona Puzelli  34 , Mai Thi Quynh Le  28 , Norosoa Harline Razanajatovo  21 , Ana Rodrigues  35 , Juan Manuel Rudi  26 , Raymond Tzer Pin Lin  13 , Marietjie Venter  36   37 , Marie-Astrid Vernet  31 , Sonam Wangchuk  16 , Juan Yang  18 , Hongjie Yu  18 , Maria Zambon  38 , François Schellevis  1 , John Paget  1 ; Global Influenza B Study
Collaborators, Affiliations

Temporal Patterns of Influenza A and B in Tropical and Temperate Countries: What Are the Lessons for Influenza Vaccination?

Saverio Caini et al. PLoS One. .

Erratum in

  • Correction: Temporal Patterns of Influenza A and B in Tropical and Temperate Countries: What Are the Lessons for Influenza Vaccination?
    Caini S, Andrade W, Badur S, Balmaseda A, Barakat A, Bella A, Bimohuen A, Brammer L, Bresee J, Bruno A, Castillo L, Ciblak MA, Clara AW, Cohen C, Daouda C, de Lozano C, De Mora D, Dorji K, Emukule GO, Fasce RA, Feng L, Ferreira de Almeida WA, Guiomar R, Heraud JM, Holubka O, Huang QS, Kadjo HA, Kiyanbekova L, Kosasih H, Kusznierz G, Lee V, Lara J, Li M, Lopez L, Mai HP, Pessanha HC, Matute ML, Mironenko A, Moreno B, Mott JA, Njouom R, Nurhayati, Ospanova A, Owen R, Pebody R, Pennington K, Puzelli S, Quynh Le MT, Razanajatovo NH, Rodrigues A, Rudi JM, Venter M, Vernet MA, Wei AL, Wangchuk S, Yang J, Yu H, Zambon M, Schellevis F, Paget J; Global Influenza B Study. Caini S, et al. PLoS One. 2016 May 2;11(5):e0155089. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155089. eCollection 2016. PLoS One. 2016. PMID: 27135748 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Introduction: Determining the optimal time to vaccinate is important for influenza vaccination programmes. Here, we assessed the temporal characteristics of influenza epidemics in the Northern and Southern hemispheres and in the tropics, and discuss their implications for vaccination programmes.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of surveillance data between 2000 and 2014 from the Global Influenza B Study database. The seasonal peak of influenza was defined as the week with the most reported cases (overall, A, and B) in the season. The duration of seasonal activity was assessed using the maximum proportion of influenza cases during three consecutive months and the minimum number of months with ≥80% of cases in the season. We also assessed whether co-circulation of A and B virus types affected the duration of influenza epidemics.

Results: 212 influenza seasons and 571,907 cases were included from 30 countries. In tropical countries, the seasonal influenza activity lasted longer and the peaks of influenza A and B coincided less frequently than in temperate countries. Temporal characteristics of influenza epidemics were heterogeneous in the tropics, with distinct seasonal epidemics observed only in some countries. Seasons with co-circulation of influenza A and B were longer than influenza A seasons, especially in the tropics.

Discussion: Our findings show that influenza seasonality is less well defined in the tropics than in temperate regions. This has important implications for vaccination programmes in these countries. High-quality influenza surveillance systems are needed in the tropics to enable decisions about when to vaccinate.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The Global Influenza B Study was supported by an unrestricted grant from Sanofi Pasteur; this does not alter the authors' adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The authors have no other potential competing interests to declare.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Mean percentage of influenza cases by month (black diamonds) and number of times the peak of the influenza season took place in each month (pink squares) for countries in the Southern hemisphere.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Mean percentage of influenza cases by month (black diamonds) and number of times the peak of the influenza season took place in each month (pink squares) for countries of Northern hemisphere.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Mean percentage of influenza cases by month (black diamonds) and number of times the peak of the influenza season took place in each month (pink squares) for countries in the inter-tropical belt.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Distribution of influenza A and B peaks in the same season: Northern hemisphere, Inter-tropical belt and Southern hemisphere.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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