Influenza is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat, and sometimes the lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness, and at times can lead to death. The best way to prevent flu is by getting a flu vaccine each year.
A pandemic is the rapid spread of a new human influenza around the world. Influenza pandemics happen when a new strain of a flu virus appears which can infect humans, to which most people have no immunity and which can transmit efficiently from human to human.
Influenza vaccination coverage among high-risk groups has dropped in the European Region over the last seven years, and half the countries report a decrease in the number of vaccine doses available.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended the composition of the trivalent influenza vaccine for the southern hemisphere winter 2018 influenza season in a report published 28 September 2017.
This meeting was designed to offer a place to exchange the latest information on into the development of narcolepsy following vaccination with one of the 2009 adjuvanted influenza A(H1N1) vaccines.
Location:Geneva, Switzerland
Organized by:International Alliance for Biological Standardisation and the World Health Organization
In November 2014, the Pharmacovigilance Centre of Netherlands (Lareb) provided an updated overview of Dutch cases of narcolepsy reported to have a link to Pandemrix.
During the 2013–14 season, A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2), B/Victoria- and B/Yamagata-lineage influenza viruses have continued to co-circulate in EU/EEA Member States.