Determination of Predominance of Influenza Virus Strains in the Americas - Volume 21, Number 7—July 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

full-text ►

Determination of Predominance of Influenza Virus Strains in the Americas - Volume 21, Number 7—July 2015 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal - CDC

Volume 21, Number 7—July 2015

Dispatch

Determination of Predominance of Influenza Virus Strains in the Americas

On This Page

• The Study
• Conclusions
• Suggested Citation

Tables

• Table 1
• Table 2

Technical Appendicies

• Technical Appendix

Downloads

• PDF[622 KB - 4 pgs]
• RIS[TXT - 2 KB]

Eduardo Azziz-Baumgartner , Rebecca J. Garten, Rakhee Palekar, Mauricio Cerpa, Sara Mirza, Alba Maria Ropero, Francisco S. Palomeque, Ann Moen, Joseph Bresee, Michael Shaw, and Marc-Alain Widdowson

Author affiliations: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA (E. Azziz-Baumgartner, R.J. Garten, R. Palekar, S. Mirza, F.S. Palomeque, A. Moen, J. Bresee, M. Shaw, M.-A. Widdowson); Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA (R. Palekar, M. Cerpa, A.M. Ropero)

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract

During 2001–2014, predominant influenza A(H1N1) and A(H3N2) strains in South America predominated in all or most subsequent influenza seasons in Central and North America. Predominant A(H1N1) and A(H3N2) strains in North America predominated in most subsequent seasons in Central and South America. Sharing data between these subregions may improve influenza season preparedness.

During 2002–2008, infection with influenza viruses caused 40,880–160,270 deaths each year throughout the Americas (1). To prevent illness and death, medical staff in 35 countries throughout the Americas administer influenza vaccines (2). However, producing the vaccine takes ≈6 months, and selecting virus strains necessitates assessing which strains are likely to predominate during upcoming epidemics (3).

Surveillance for influenza has improved dramatically, especially in the American tropics (4). Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether virus strains identified in North America subsequently become predominant in South America and vice versa (3). Such information could help public health officials in each hemisphere prepare for upcoming influenza seasons. We describe influenza epidemics in North, Central, and South America and explore whether the virus strains that caused them were similar.

Dr. Azziz-Baumgartner works at the US Centers for Disease Control, Influenza Division, collaborating with the Pan American Health Organization and its member countries. His research interests are surveillance improvements, disease and economic burden studies, and influenza vaccine impact studies.

Acknowledgment

This paper is dedicated to the memory of Alexander Klimov.

References

1. Cheng PY, Palekar R, Azziz-Baumgartner E, Iuliano D, Alencar AP , Bresee J, Burden of influenza-associated deaths in the Americas, 2002–2008. Influenza Other Respir Viruses. In press 2015.
2. Ropero-Álvarez AM, Kurtis HJ, Danovaro-Holliday MC, Ruiz-Matus C, Andrus JK. Expansion of seasonal influenza vaccination in the Americas. BMC Public Health. 2009;9:361. DOIPubMed
3. Russell CA, Jones TC, Barr IG, Cox NJ, Garten RJ, Gregory V, et al. Influenza vaccine strain selection and recent studies on the global migration of seasonal influenza viruses. Vaccine. 2008;26(Suppl 4):D31–4. DOIPubMed
4. Johnson L, Clará W, Gambhir M, Chacón-Fuentes R, Marín-Correa C, Jara J, Improvements in pandemic preparedness in 8 Central American countries, 2008–2012. BMC Health Serv Res. 2014;14:209. DOIPubMed
5. World Health Organization. Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) [cited 2013 May 26].http://www.who.int/influenza/gisrs_laboratory/en/
6. United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. World population prospects: the 2010 revision [cited 2015 May 5]. http://esa.un.org/Wpp/Documentation/WPP%202010%20publications.htm
7. Azziz Baumgartner E, Dao CN, Nasreen S, Bhuiyan MU, Mah-E-Muneer S, Al Mamun A, et al. Seasonality, timing, and climate drivers of influenza activity worldwide. J Infect Dis. 2012;206:838–46. DOIPubMed
8. Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde. Ministério da Saúde. Influenza: monitoramento até a semana epidemiológica 29 de 2013. Boletim Epidemiológico.2013;44:1–9.

Tables

• Table 1. Most commonly identified antigenic characterizations of influenza strains in the Americas during 2002–2013†
• Table 2. Most commonly identified antigenic characterizations of influenza strains in Central America compared with composition of Southern and Northern hemisphere vaccines, 2006–2013

Technical Appendix

• Technical Appendix.  15 KB

Suggested citation for this article: Azziz-Baumgartner E, Garten RJ, Palekar R, Cerpa M, Mirza S, Ropero AM, et al. Determination of predominance of influenza virus strains in the Americas. Emerg Infect Dis. 2015 Jul [date cited]. http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2107.140788

DOI: 10.3201/eid2107.140788