Journal Article

Global influenza seasonality to inform country-level vaccine programs: An analysis of WHO FluNet influenza surveillance data between 2011 and 2016

Bhat, Niranjan, Newman, Laura P., Neuzil, Kathleen M., Fleming, Jessica A.

2018

Overview

By analyzing publicly available surveillance data from 2011-2016, we produced country-specific estimates of seasonal influenza activity for 118 countries in the six World Health Organization regions. Overall, the average country influenza activity period was 4.7 months. Our analysis characterized 100 countries (85%) with one influenza peak season, 13 (11%) with two influenza peak seasons, and five (4%) with year-round influenza activity. Surveillance data were limited for many countries. These data provide national estimates of influenza activity, which may guide planning for influenza vaccination implementation, program timing and duration, and policy development.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Biology and Life Sciences / Control / Databases, Factual / Distribution / Earth sciences / Epidemiological Monitoring / Epidemiology / Female / Fever / Health aspects / Health surveillance / Humans / Immunization / Infections / Influenza / Influenza vaccines / Influenza Vaccines - administration & dosage / Influenza, Human - epidemiology / Influenza, Human - prevention & control / Laboratories / Male / Mass Vaccination / Medicine and Health Sciences / People and Places / Physiological aspects / Public health / Seasonal variations / Surveillance / Vaccination / Vaccines / Viruses / World Health Organization