Epidemic Influenza Seasons from 2008 to 2018 in Poland: A Focused Review of Virological Characteristics

Abstract

The objective of this review was to elaborate on changes in the virological characteristics of influenza seasons in Poland in the past decade. The elaboration was based on the international influenza surveillance system consisting of Sentinel and non-Sentinel programs, recently adopted by Poland, in which professionals engaged in health care had reported tens of thousands of cases of acute upper airway infections. The reporting was followed by the provision of biological specimens collected from patients with suspected influenza and influenza-like infection, in which the causative contagion was then verified with molecular methods. The peak incidence of influenza infections has regularly been in January-March each epidemic season. The number of tested specimens ranged from 2066 to 8367 per season from

Influenza Vaccination Coverage, Motivators for, and Barriers to Influenza Vaccination among Healthcare Workers in Wroclaw, Poland

“…Only two surveys have been conducted-the first was carried out 10 years ago in Warsaw (the capital city of Poland) and revealed the VCR for hospital personnel to be at approximately 20% [15]; the second one was a national cross-sectional survey with participation by 500 physicians involved in the qualification and administration of childhood vaccines (81% were pediatricians, and the remaining 19% were family doctors), conducted from June to July 2017, with a result of 62% of seasonal influenza VCR [16]. In addition, the VCR of the general population in Poland is extremely low (3.5%) [17].…”

Incidence of Influenza Virus Infection among Wroclaw’s Healthcare Workers in Pre-COVID-19 2019–2020 Influenza Season Using Novel Flu SensDx Device

“…On the other hand, describing the bimodal course with an early peak and a prolonged period of viral shedding in cases of influenza B virus infections may imply the potential infectiousness before the onset of symptoms and after clinical improvement [ 24 ]. It is worth highlighting that the influenza B virus caused a substantial proportion of influenza infections globally in the 21st century [ 29 ] and for example, the type B virus of the Yamagata lineage predominated in the 2017–2018 season in Poland [ 30 ]. What’s more, in the current study, including a trace amount of detected viral material, the influenza B virus was detected in almost half of the positively tested nasal samples.…”

“…Having this in mind, the mentioned non-pharmacological interventions could be inadequate, and generally preventive measures, including good general hygiene practices, would not be as effective as influenza vaccinations to control the influenza virus infection [ 19 ]. Unfortunately, the vaccination rates in the general population vary in different areas of the world, and for Poland they are extremely low, at around 3.5% (data from 2008–2018 [ 30 ]), and similarly, the influenza vaccination rates among HCWs are universally low (2–44% globally) and vary over time as well as between regions and different types of healthcare professionals (physicians/nurses) [ 31 ]. In the present study, the influenza vaccination coverage was 61.3% in 2019–2020 and 46.0% in the 2018–2019 season for all participants.…”

Seasonal influenza vaccination of healthcare workers: a narrative review

“…In the countries of the northern hemisphere, there is a seasonal increase in influenza cases between November and the end of March, with a peak in January-March [4]. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that up related to influenza vaccination among medical staff.…”