Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Mar;23(13):18-00146.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2018.23.13.18-00146.

Dominant influenza A(H3N2) and B/Yamagata virus circulation in EU/EEA, 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, respectively

Cornelia Adlhoch  1 , René Snacken  1 , Angeliki Melidou  2 , Silviu Ionescu  1 , Pasi Penttinen  1 ; European Influenza Surveillance Network  3
Affiliations

Dominant influenza A(H3N2) and B/Yamagata virus circulation in EU/EEA, 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, respectively

Cornelia Adlhoch et al. Euro Surveill. 2018 Mar.

Abstract

We use surveillance data to describe influenza A and B virus circulation over two consecutive seasons with excess all-cause mortality in Europe, especially in people aged 60 years and older. Influenza A(H3N2) virus dominated in 2016/17 and B/Yamagata in 2017/18. The latter season was prolonged with positivity rates above 50% among sentinel detections for at least 12 weeks. With a current west-east geographical spread, high influenza activity might still be expected in eastern Europe.

Keywords: Europe; epidemiology; influenza; intensive care; mortality; severity; surveillance.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Percentage positivity for influenza viruses among sentinel specimens, by week and season, European Union/European Economic Area, 2016/17 and 2017/18 (up to week 11)
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of viral types/subtypes in sentinel specimens by country, European Union/European Economic Area, influenza season 2016/17
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of laboratory-confirmed influenza cases admitted to ICU, by age group and type/subtype, in the reporting European Union/European Economic Area countries, 2016/17 season (n = 2,827 patients)a
Figure 4
Figure 4
Distribution of viral types/subtypes in sentinel specimens by country, European Union/European Economic Area, influenza season 2017/18 (up to week 11)
Figure 5
Figure 5
Distribution of laboratory-confirmed influenza cases admitted to ICU, by age group and type/subtype, in the reporting European Union/European Economic Area countries, 2017/18 season (up to week 11) (n = 4,754)a
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. European monitoring of excess mortality for public health action - EuroMOMO. Copenhagen: EuroMOMO. [Accessed 23 Mar 2018]. Available from: http://www.euromomo.eu/index.html
    1. Vestergaard LS, Nielsen J, Krause TG, Espenhain L, Tersago K, Bustos Sierra N, et al. Excess all-cause and influenza-attributable mortality in Europe, December 2016 to February 2017. Euro Surveill. 2017;22(14):30506. 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.14.30506 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe. Flu News Europe - Joint ECDC-WHO/Europe weekly influenza update, Archives season 2017-18. Week 11/2018 (12–18 March 2018). ECDC/WHO. Available from: http://flunewseurope.org/Archives
    1. Paget J, Marquet R, Meijer A, van der Velden K. Influenza activity in Europe during eight seasons (1999-2007): an evaluation of the indicators used to measure activity and an assessment of the timing, length and course of peak activity (spread) across Europe. BMC Infect Dis. 2007;7(1):141. 10.1186/1471-2334-7-141 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Meijer A, Valette M, Manuguerra JC, Pérez-Breña P, Paget J, Brown C, et al. Implementation of the community network of reference laboratories for human influenza in Europe. J Clin Virol. 2005;34(2):87-96. 10.1016/j.jcv.2005.02.005 - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources