Influenza epidemics occur every winter with high impact on disease burden, hospitalisations and excess mortality in countries in the WHO European Region. To understand the characteristics of circulating influenza viruses during seasonal epidemics, virological influenza surveillance is performed and detected viruses are further characterised at national influenza centres (NICs) that are part of the wider network of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS). External quality assessments (EQAs) are important instruments in assessing the quality of the generated data that are reported nationally and internationally through The European Surveillance System (TESSy).

Following the emergence of swine influenza A(H3N2) variant (v) viruses with sporadic human infections in North America, the Community Network of Reference Laboratories (CNRL) and the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency completed an exercise to assess the CNRL’s capability to detect novel reassortant and circulating triple reassortant swine viruses (TRA) in humans.

Following the emergence of swine influenza A(H3N2) variant (v) viruses with sporadic human infections in North America, ECDC and the Community Network of Reference Laboratories (CNRL) disseminated a questionnaire to explore the RT-PCR capability of influenza reference laboratories in EU/EEA countries to detect A(H3N2)v viruses in their day-to-day diagnostics and to subtype them as swine-origin variant viruses.

Results of the 2nd ECDC/CNRL external quality assurance (EQA) scheme for influenza virus detection and culture show a high standard of influenza virus detection and typing maintained across influenza reference laboratories in EU/EEA countries.

This report summarises the results from two epidemiological studies conducted by the Vaccine Adverse Event Surveillance and Communication (VAESCO) Consortium undertaken in eight European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) countries in order to investigate a possible association between an unexpected increase in narcolepsy cases following the use of influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccines. Narcolepsy is an underdiagnosed disease of widely unknown etiology.

This report summarises the results from two epidemiological studies to investigate a possible association between an unexpected increase in narcolepsy cases following the use of the influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 vaccines. The studies were conducted by the Vaccine Adverse Event Surveillance and Communication (VAESCO) Consortium under the auspices of ECDC and undertaken in Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. This Technical Report In Brief accompanies the full Report ‘Narcolepsy in association with pandemic influenza vaccination- A multi-country European epidemiological investigation’.

The first European external quality assessment exercise for antiviral susceptibility detection in influenza viruses was carried out during winter 2010/11. Twenty laboratories from 16 European countries participated in the exercise.

​According to this report, the use of rapid molecular assays has diagnostic value in tuberculosis (TB) identification and detection of drug resistance, although there is not enough evidence to recommend these tools in all populations and situations and they should not replace standard diagnostic methods.

Vaccination recommendations and coverage rates in the EU Member States for eight influenza seasons: 2007–2008 to 2014–2015.