Weekly influenza surveillance overview, week 12, 2014

​For week 12/2014:
• Of the 29 countries providing clinical data, Estonia, Greece and Romania reported medium intensity and all other countries low intensity.
• Of the 662 sentinel specimens tested across 23 countries, 207 (31%) were positive for influenza virus. Of these, 198 (96%) were type A, 118 subtyped as A(H3) and 47 A(H1)pdm09, and nine (4%) were type B.
• Six countries reported 117 hospitalised laboratory-confirmed influenza cases including 67 cases admitted to intensive care units.

Influenza activity is declining, with only a few countries reporting medium intensity, wide geographical spread or increasing trends. Influenza is still circulating with a higher proportion of influenza subtype A(H3) detected than A(H1)pdm09. However, the number of specimens testing positive for influenza is declining.