The ECDC annual meeting of the European Influenza Surveillance Network (EISN) prepared in collaboration with the EISN Coordination Committee, brought together epidemiological and virological surveillance contact points and representatives from reference laboratories from the 31 EU/EEA Member States as well as participants from EU pre-accession countries, Eastern European Neighbourhood Policy partner countries, the WHO Regional Office for Europe, and involved international institutions.
The influenza season 2016–2017 has now come to an end in Europe. In week 17/2017, all EU/EEA countries reported low influenza activity and the positivity rate (proportion of influenza virus positives among all tested specimens) falling below the 10% benchmark to 9.9%. For the previous six weeks, almost all EU/EEA countries had reported low influenza activity.
The WHO Regional Office for Europe (WHO/Europe) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) were jointly organising the annual influenza surveillance meeting.
Location:Budapest, Hungary
Organized by:ECDC and the WHO Regional Office for Europe
The 2015-2016 influenza season has come to an end in Europe, with almost all countries now reporting low influenza activity for a number of weeks. The season started in EU/EEA countries in week 52/2015, with the Netherlands reporting regional spread, while Sweden reported widespread activity. The season lasted for 22 weeks until week 20/2016, when the positivity rate dropped to 11%. The peak of the season - with the highest proportion of specimens tested positive (53%) - occurred in week 11/2016.
Increased influenza activity started in week 51/2014 this season when the percentage of influenza positive laboratory tests crossed the 10% threshold. The season lasted for 21 weeks until week 19/2015, when the positivity rate dropped below 10%. The peak of the season - with the highest proportion of specimens tested positive (55%) - occurred in week 07/2015. The peak varied between countries, occurring in week 04/2015 in Bulgaria and Portugal, and between weeks 05/2015 and 08/2015 in most central European countries.
The 2013–14 influenza season was mild and dominated by influenza A viruses, with a co-circulation of A(H1N1)pdm09 and A(H3N2) viruses in most countries. Only two countries reported higher syndromic notification rates compared with the previous season.