1/ A summary of #influenza activity from the WHO influenza update 432 report from 14 November 2022, based on data up to 30 October 2022.
The WHO influenza update 432 report: https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/influenza/influenza-updates/2022/2022_11_14_surveillance_update_432.pdf?sfvrsn=19cda949_1
https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/influenza-update-n-432
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3/ "The WHO GISRS laboratories tested more than 229940 specimens during that time period. 15723 were positive for influenza viruses, of which 14589 (92.8%) were typed as influenza A and 1134 (7.2%) as influenza B."
Majority of subtyped influenza A specimens were influenza A(H3N2).
"Of the sub-typed influenza A viruses, 1424 (21.2%) were influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 and 5284 (78.8%) were influenza A(H3N2). Of the characterized B viruses, all 300 (100%) belonged to the B/Victoria lineage."
6/ Within the WHO European region, influenza activity remained highest in South West Europe (3.62% positivity)
"Germany, Portugal & Spain reported an increasing trend in activity, with widespread activity in Portugal. Germany and Spain reported influenza positivity above the 10% epidemic threshold. Malta reported high-intensity activity with local spread."
Weekly overviews are given by the European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control on influenza activity in Europe: https://flunewseurope.org
8/ In East Asia influenza activity of predominantly influenza A(H3N2) remained stable at intermediate levels.
In Western Asia: "detections of influenza continued to increase in some countries of the
Arabian Peninsula"
In Central Asia: "influenza activity was high (20.4% influenza positivity), where the majority of detections were B viruses reported from Kazakhstan"
No influenza detections reported in Northern Africa.
9/ In temperate zones of southern hemisphere, "overall influenza activity appeared to decrease this reporting period, except in temperate South America where activity increased in several countries."
In Oceania, influenza-like-illness (ILI) activity generally now at low levels in Australia and New Zealand. ILI activity across the Pacific Islands also remained low except in a few countries.
10/ In South Africa: "detections of influenza A(H3N2) and influenza B/Victoria decreased. The influenza detection rates in ILI and pneumonia surveillance were below the epidemic threshold."
In temperate South America: "influenza detections have continued to increase in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. Influenza A(H3N2) viruses predominated in Chile and Uruguay, while influenza B and influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 predominated among subtyped viruses in Argentina."
11/ Tropical regions summary
In tropical regions of Central America, the Caribbean, South America and Africa, low influenza activity was reported.
In Southern Asia, "influenza activity increased steeply mainly due to an increase in detections in Iran, where predominantly influenza A(H3N2) followed by influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 and few influenza B/Victoria detections were reported."
Elevated influenza activity also reported in Bhutan and Pakistan.
12/ Tropical regions summary
In South-East Asia: "influenza detections decreased in all countries reporting this period except in Malaysia where influenza A detections decreased but influenza B detections increased."
/end
Christopher McKnight Nichols
Ed Hill
Ian M. Mackay, PhD (he/him)