Start of the 2014/15 influenza season in Europe: drifted influenza A(H3N2) viruses circulate as dominant subtype

E Broberg; R Snacken; C Adlhoch; J Beauté; M Galinska; D Pereyaslov; C Brown; P Penttinen; on behalf of the WHO European Region and the European Influenza Surveillance Network

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.4.21023

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Start of the 2014/15 influenza season in Europe: drifted influenza A(H3N2) viruses circulate as dominant subtype
E Broberg¹ , R Snacken¹ , C Adlhoch¹ , J Beauté¹ , M Galinska² , D Pereyaslov² , C Brown² , P Penttinen¹ , on behalf of the WHO European Region and the European Influenza Surveillance Network³
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Affiliations: ¹ European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden ² World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark ³ The members of the network are listed at the end of the article

Correspondence:
E Broberg
eeva.broberg ecdc.europa.eu
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Citation style for this article: Broberg E, Snacken R, Adlhoch C, Beauté J, Galinska M, Pereyaslov D, Brown C, Penttinen P, on behalf of the WHO European Region and the European Influenza Surveillance Network. Start of the 2014/15 influenza season in Europe: drifted influenza A(H3N2) viruses circulate as dominant subtype. Euro Surveill. 2015;20(4):pii=21023. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.4.21023 Received: 22 Jan 2015

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Abstract

The influenza season 2014/15 started in Europe in week 50 2014 with influenza A(H3N2) viruses predominating. The majority of the A(H3N2) viruses characterised antigenically and/or genetically differ from the northern hemisphere vaccine component which may result in reduced vaccine effectiveness for the season. We therefore anticipate that this season may be more severe than the 2013/14 season. Treating influenza with antivirals in addition to prevention with vaccination will be important.