Influenza A and B viruses in the population of Vojvodina, Serbia

Abstract

At present, two influenza A viruses, H1N1pdm09 and H3N2, along with influenza B virus co-circulate in the human population, causing endemic and seasonal epidemic acute febrile respiratory infections, sometimes with life-threatening complications. Detection of influenza viruses in nasopharyngeal swab samples was done by real-time RT-PCR. There were 60.2% (53/88) positive samples in 2010/11, 63.4% (52/82) in 2011/12, and 49.9% (184/369) in 2012/13. Among the positive patients, influenza A viruses were predominant during the first two seasons, while influenza B type was more active during 2012/13. Subtyping of influenza A positive samples revealed the presence of A (H1N1)pdm09 in 2010/11, A (H3N2) in 2011/12, while in 2012/13, both subtypes were detected. The highest seroprevalence against influenza A was in the age-group 30-64, and against influenza B in adults aged 30-64 and >65. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR31084]

Safety and immunogenicity of a seasonal trivalent inactivated split influenza vaccine: a double blind, phase III randomized clinical trial in healthy Serbian adults

“…The high rate of participants with elevated pre-vaccination titers to the B strain (approximately half of the participants tested) and for the H1N1 strain (approximately one-third of the participants tested) exhibiting seroprotective titers at baseline was in line with a recent publication that provides surveillance data for influenza disease in Serbia from the years 2009 to 2015, showing that A viruses were predominant in the first two seasons (2010/11 and 2011/12), with A/H1N1pdm09 in the 2010/11 season; A/H3N2 in the 2011/12 season and B viruses predominant in the 2012/13 season, where both A/H3N2 and A/H1N1 pdm09 were also present. 16 Our study findings, which also showed that 18% of the participants in the placebo group also seroconverted by day 22, suggest that influenza B infection was ongoing at the time of the study. However, recent data from WHO FLUNET (a global web-based tool for influenza virological surveillance) shows influenza circulating predominately from December 2016 (week 50) to early January (week 4) 2017 with prevalence of A/H3N2 and absence of influenza B activity during the study period, which did not corroborate our observation.…”

Influenza B viruses circulated during last 5 years in Mongolia

“…Among them, influenza B viruses are known to primarily infect the human population and spreads as an acute febrile illness with respiratory symptoms. In addition, the influenza B viruses lead to severe and life-threatening medical complications in human such as bacterial pneumonia, encephalitis, myositis, Reye’s syndrome and sinus infection [ 3 ].…”

Incidence and neutralizing antibody seroprevalence of influenza B virus in Egypt: Results of a community-based cohort study

“…The proportions of IgG-positive patients for influenza B in 2011 were 34.3% (93/271), in 2012 were 69.3% (194/280), and in 2013 were 85.4% (264/309) showing a significant increase over time (p-value <0.0001). The majority of subjects who were seropositive for IBVs were adults with age groups aged 30–64 and >65 years with a seropositivity rate of 48.7% and 60.8%, respectively [ 21 ].…”