Weekly influenza surveillance overview, 10 Oct - 16 Oct 2011 (Week 41)
During week 41/2011, low influenza activity was notified by all 25 countries that reported. None of the 258 sentinel specimens tested positive for influenza. Of nine influenza viruses detected in non-sentinel specimens, four were influenza A viruses and 5 - B viruses. No hospitalised cases of severe influenza were reported.
Executive Summary
In week 41 (10 Oct 2011 – 16 Oct 2011), all countries providing data to the European Surveillance System (TESSy) database reported low influenza activity.
In particular, the majority of the countries reported absence of geographic spread and only France, Norway and Poland reported some sporadic activity. Bulgaria, Hungary, Ireland, Poland and the UK (Northern Ireland) reported increasing trends.
In relation to the virological data, none of the specimens were tested positive for influenza out of 258 sentinel specimens. Of nine influenza-positive non-sentinel source specimens, e.g. specimens collected for diagnostic purposes in hospitals, four were type A viruses and five were type B viruses. More details on influenza viruses that circulated in 2011 can be found in the August–September report prepared by the Community Network of Reference Laboratories (CNRL) coordination team.
This data shows that Europe is not yet experiencing the annual influenza epidemics for this season.
