In June and July 2015, an influenza virus antiviral susceptibility external quality assessment was held for European reference laboratories. This report presents the results of the third antiviral EQA panel distributed by the European Reference Laboratory Network for Human Influenza since the European Influenza Surveillance Network was established in 2008.
In June and July 2015, an influenza virus antiviral susceptibility external quality assessment was held for European reference laboratories. This report presents the result of the third antiviral EQA panel distributed by the European Reference Laboratory Network for Human Influenza since the European Influenza Surveillance Network was established in 2008.
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.