Results from 29 European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) countries in response to a survey on the implementation of integrated surveillance of respiratory viruses with pandemic potential.
ECDC monitors and reports on influenza activity in Europe on a weekly basis throughout the flu season, in collaboration with WHO Regional Office for Europe.
In the week commencing 13 December, the number of flu cases (caused by the influenza virus) detected in the WHO European Region was above what we would normally expect to find in the population for the second week in a row, which indicates the so-called flu season epidemic has started.
The Flu Awareness Campaign is marked across the WHO European Region every year in October. It aims to raise awareness of the importance of vaccination for people’s health and well-being and to increase the uptake of seasonal influenza vaccination of people with underlying risk factors.
Although the overall number of influenza detections in the majority of EU/EEA countries is still low, indications show that influenza circulation is above the seasonal threshold in Croatia, which is unusually early. The main reported subtype among the cases recorded in EU/EEA during the past month is A(H3N2), which disproportionally affects older people, and is associated with lower vaccine effectiveness. This is a sign that the upcoming influenza season could be severe for elderly people, and that influenza patterns may vary between countries in terms of timing.