# 4666
With the arrival of summer north of the equator - and flu activity at or below normal levels for this time of year in most of Europe, Canada, and the United States - we increasingly direct our gaze southward to monitor the progress of influenza.
PAHO (Pan American Health Organization) – which also serves as a regional office for the WHO – receives, collates, and distributes influenza surveillance data from member nations.
Along with reports out of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa we can get a pretty good idea of how the flu season is going south of the equator.
The WEEK 23 Regional Update from PAHO shows considerable variability in the level – and strains – of influenza circulating among member nations.
The highlights from this week’s report, plus a look at some of the maps and graphics.
Weekly Summary
• In North America, acute respiratory disease activity remained low.
• The Caribbean countries reported decreasing or unchanged trends in acute respiratory disease.
• In Central America, Panama reported an unchanged trend in acute respiratory disease.
• In South America, Bolivia, Colombia, and Venezuela reported increasing trends of acute respiratory disease.
• From EW 1 to 23, 2010, El Salvador reported a predominance of influenza type B, while Cuba,
Jamaica, Mexico, and Panama reported predominately influenza type A. Paraguay reported a predominance of respiratory syncytial virus.• 23 new confirmed deaths in 3 countries were reported; in total there have been 8,450 cumulative confirmed deaths in 28 countries of the Region.
This first graphic shows the trends of respiratory infections (all types), with DARK BLUE indicating increasing reports.
While there are 47 members nations in PAHO, not all of them report every week. Below (click to enlarge) you’ll find statistics from 8 nations showing a wide variance in flu-like illnesses detected.
In Paraguay RSV and Parainfluenza viruses dominate, in El Salvador Influenza B is the primary culprit, while in Mexico and Jamaica it is Influenza A that comes up most in laboratory testing.
Among Influenza A sampling, pandemic H1N1 remains the most common strain, although Jamaica and Panama both report fairly high rates of seasonal H1/H3 strains.
Unfortunately the mix of H1 and H3 isn’t provided, nor is it completely clear whether non-subtyped A viruses are included in those numbers.
Thus far, respiratory illnesses from reporting members of PAHO are having only a low to moderate impact on health care services.
Over the next few months we’ll keep an eye on these weekly reports, along with information from Australia and New Zealand, to track the southern hemisphere's flu
season.
