Current Season in RED – Credit HPA
# 6877
While the flu season continues in full force across much of North America, in the UK the HPA this week is reporting significant declines in influenza and influenza-like activity.
Unlike the H3N2 dominated flu season we’ve seen in the United States and Canada, influenza B appears to be leading the viral charge in the UK.
It is possible – as we saw in Hong Kong last year – to see more than one peak in a flu season. With several more `flu prone months’ ahead, one can’t necessarily assume the flu season is over for this year in the UK.
Weekly update on seasonal infections: 24 January 2013
24 January 2013
Latest figures from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) up to 24 January 2013 show that flu activity has decreased compared to the previous week based on a number of indicators, including GP consultation rates in England and the proportion of calls to NHS direct.
The number of laboratory confirmed cases of norovirus have also fallen again over the last week with 233 cases being reported during the first week of January and 168 in week two.
The latest figures show that GP consultation rates in England have decreased from 24.8 per 100,000 last week to 13.6 this week. Rates have also decreased in Northern Ireland (53.7 down from 72.4), Scotland (33.8 down from 52.22) and Wales (11.2 down from 26.1).
Calls received by NHS Direct for cold and flu remained stable below the threshold of 1.6 per cent and the calls for fever in five to 14 year olds increased slightly but remained below the flu threshold of 11.7 per cent.
There have been 4,720 confirmed cases of norovirus so far this season (from the beginning of July 2012 to January 13, 2013). This is 49 per cent higher than the number of cases reported to the same point last year when there were 3,168.
Laboratory confirmed influenza in the UK this season has been primarily Influenza B, followed by A/H3N2.
The most recent virological analysis of flu activity from the HPA indicates:
90 (12.7%) of the 709 respiratory specimens reported to DataMart (England) tested positive for influenza in week 3 (48 B, 16 A(H3), 20 A subtype not known and 6 A(H1N1)pdm09).
The proportion of samples positive in DataMart (England) increased for rhinovirus and remained stable for RSV, hMPV, adenovirus and parainfluenza.
7 influenza positive detections were recorded through the two English GP-based sentinel schemes in week 3 (5 B, 1 A(H3) and 1 A(H1N1)pdm09), giving a positivity of 44%
The UK’s norovirus season continues to run about 50% above last year, due primarily to the introduction of a new GII.4 variant, dubbed Sydney 2012 (see UNSW: Sydney 2012 Norovirus Rising).
