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. 2022 Sep;27(39):2200753.
doi: 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.39.2200753.

Has influenza B/Yamagata become extinct and what implications might this have for quadrivalent influenza vaccines?

John Paget  1 , Saverio Caini  1 , Marco Del Riccio  1   2 , Willemijn van Waarden  1 , Adam Meijer  3
Affiliations

Has influenza B/Yamagata become extinct and what implications might this have for quadrivalent influenza vaccines?

John Paget et al. Euro Surveill. 2022 Sep.

Abstract

While two influenza B virus lineages have co-circulated, B/Yamagata-lineage circulation has not been confirmed since March 2020. The WHO FluNet database indicates that B/Yamagata-lineage detections were reported in 2021 and 2022. However, detections can result from use of quadrivalent live-attenuated vaccines. Of the type B viruses detected post-March 2020, all ascribed to a lineage have been B/Victoria-lineage. There is need for a global effort to detect and lineage-ascribe type B influenza viruses, to assess if B/Yamagata-lineage viruses have become extinct.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Influenza; Vaccination; Virology; WHO.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: Saverio Caini, Marco Del Riccio, Willemijn van Waarden and Adam Meijer report no conflicts of interest. John Paget reports that Nivel has received funding for influenza research projects from Sanofi, the Fondation de France and WHO.

Figures

Figure
Figure
Influenza and SARS-CoV-2 detections by year and week, World Health Organization global surveillance data, 1 January 2019–August 2022
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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