Influenza viruses received and tested by the Melbourne WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza annual report, 2015.

Influenza viruses received and tested by the Melbourne WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza annual report, 2015. Commun Dis Intell Q Rep. 2017 Jun 30;41(2):E150-E160 Authors: Leung VK, Spirason N, Lau H, Buettner I, Leang SK, Chow MK Abstract As part of its role in the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza in Melbourne received a total of 5,557 influenza positive samples during 2015. Viruses were analysed for their antigenic, genetic and antiviral susceptibility properties. In 2015, influenza B viruses predominated over influenza A(H1)pdm09 and A(H3) viruses, accounting for a total of 58% of all viruses analysed. The vast majority of A(H1)pdm09, A(H3) and influenza B viruses analysed at the Centre were found to be antigenically similar to the respective WHO recommended vaccine strains for the Southern Hemisphere in 2015. However, phylogenetic analysis of a selection of viruses indicated that the majority of circulating A(H3) viruses were genetically distinct from the WHO recommended strain for 2015, resulting in an update to the recommended vaccine strain for the Southern Hemisphere for 2016. With an increasing predominance of B/Victoria lineage viruses over B/Yamagata lineage viruses through the course of 2015, WHO also updated the recommended influenza B strain in the trivalent influenza va...
Source: Communicable Diseases Intelligence Quarterly Report - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Commun Dis Intell Q Rep Source Type: research