Flu News Europe has published its week 3 update. Excerpt:
Week 3/2019 (14-20 January 2019)
• Influenza activity continued to increase in the European Region. Samples collected from individuals presenting with ILI or ARI to sentinel primary health care sites yielded an influenza positivity rate of 48.8%.
• Influenza type A virus detections dominated with A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses being more prevalent than A(H3N2). Very few influenza B viruses were detected.
• Data from the 23 Member States and areas reporting to the EuroMOMO project indicated that generally all-cause mortality was at expected levels for this time of year, but a few countries observed some excess mortality in elderly populations.
• In Sweden, a seasonal reassortant A(H1N2) influenza virus was detected in a specimen collected at the end of December from an adult. Preliminary whole genome sequence analysis suggests that the virus is a seasonal reassortant containing HA and NS, NP, PA, PB1 and PB2 genes of human seasonal A(H1N1)pdm09 influenza virus and NA genes of human seasonal A(H3N2) influenza virus. No increase in virulence is expected compared to seasonal influenza strains. Further analysis is being conducted by the WHO Collaborating Center on influenza. More information can be found here.
2018/19 season overview
• Influenza activity in Europe is increasing, with both subtypes of influenza A viruses circulating widely. Countries should continue to encourage vaccination. In addition, countries are encouraged to use antivirals in accordance with national guidelines.
• In general, current influenza vaccines tend to work better against influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and influenza B viruses than against influenza A(H3N2) viruses. Preliminary results from Canada where the predominate circulating viruses are influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses, indicate good vaccine effectiveness.
