# 4127
Two updates this morning from the ECDC (European Centre For Disease Prevention & Control). While the intensity of the pandemic has started to wane in parts of western Europe, it remains widespread in several eastern European nations.
First, the ECDC has released its weekly influenza surveillance report, similar to the the US FluView and Canada’s FluWatch.
Not every European country reports every week to the ECDC, and the depth of surveillance and reporting may vary from one nation to the next, so week to week and cumulative numbers may be a bit hard to interpret.
Still, we get some excellent snapshots of subsets of information, including demographic information (age, gender, vaccination status, underlying conditions) of many of those hospitalized with SARI (Severe Acute Respiratory Infection).
I’ve just posted some excerpts. This week’s complete report (Pdf file) can be downloaded at this link.
This weekly summary, released on December 4th, is for week 48 which ended November 29th.
Sentinel surveillance of influenza-like illness (ILI)/ acute respiratory illness (ARI): All 25 countries reported levels for ILI and/or ARI above baseline levels, ranging from medium to very high. Widespread activity was reported in 17 countries across the EU.
Virological surveillance: Sentinel physicians collected 3349 respiratory specimens, of which 1263 (37.7%) were positive for influenza virus. Of the 11 658 viruses detected by sentinel networks since week 40/2009, 11 615 were type A and 43 were type B. So far, oseltamivir resistance was only detected in four out of 904 viruses tested and reported to EISN.
Aggregate numbers of pandemic H1N1 2009 deaths: Ten countries reported 41 new deaths. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 483 deaths have been reported.
Hospital surveillance of severe acute respiratory infection (SARI): Seven countries reported 207 SARI cases, 41 of whom had symptom onset during week 48/2009. Since the beginning of this surveillance, 2336 SARI cases including 97 fatalities have been reported.
Qualitative reporting: No qualitative indicator data are available yet.
And second, the Monday Morning ECDC pandemic update, which covers the 72 hours since the last update, Friday morning.
(click image to open Pdf)
All 27 EU and 4 EFTA countries are reporting cases of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza. A total of 1 066 deaths have been reported since April 2009 (Table 2). Since week 41 the numbers of deaths each has shown a steady increase almost doubling every fortnight over the last six weeks, but with a slight increase in week 48, compared to the previous week. While the most deaths have to date been in Western Europe there are increasing numbers of deaths being reported from Central and Eastern Europe. Latest new and confirmed fatal pandemic (H1N1) cases outside the EU/EFTA area are presented in Table 2 as well. Available updates on hospital admissions, per Member State, can be found in Table 1
The Weekly Influenza Surveillance Report
The Weekly Influenza Surveillance Overview was published on December 4th for week 48/2009.
Overall, 17 EU countries reported widespread activity in week 48 while all EU reporting countries are still experiencing medium to very high influenza intensity. Eleven countries reported increasing activity, many of which are in Eastern and Southern Europe. However, Influenza intensity has been declining for at least two consecutive weeks in nine countries, many of which are located in Northern, Western and Central Europe. Ten countries reported 41 new deaths. Seven countries reported 207 SARI cases, 41 of whom had symptom onset during week 48/2009.
Oseltamivir resistance has been reported at very low levels in the EU Seasonal influenza strains continue to be very rarely detected and more than 99% of subtyped viruses have been influenza A(H1N1)v. The percentage of samples from sentinel patients positive for influenza seen in primary care has declined since week 46. Nevertheless, the percentage is higher in countries reporting increasing trends.
