Ann: European RAT Clinical Trial Halted to Refocus Initiatives, page-192

Flue season in Europe showing up early , The planed Covid-19 / Flue A/B combo trial has been brought forward for a very good reason .

https://flunewseurope.org/

Hospital Surveillance
A subset of countries and areas monitor severe disease related to influenza virus infection by surveillance of

1) hospitalized laboratory-confirmed influenza cases in ICUs or other wards, or

2) severe acute respiratory infection (SARI).

Laboratory-confirmed hospitalized cases (ICUs)
1.1) Hospitalized laboratory-confirmed influenza cases – ICUs

For week 43/2022, 1 laboratory-confirmed influenza case was reported from an ICU ward in Ireland. It was an influenza type A virus but was not ascribed to a subtype.

Since week 40/2022, more influenza type A (n=71, 90%) than type B (n=8, 10%) viruses were detected (from Czechia, Ireland, Sweden and United Kingdom (England)). Of 5 subtyped influenza A viruses, 3 were A(H1)pdm09 and 2 were A(H3). No influenza B viruses were ascribed to a lineage. Of 6 cases with known age, 5 were 65 years and older and 1 was in the age group 15-64.

1.2) Hospitalized laboratory-confirmed influenza cases – other wards

For week 43/2022, 42 laboratory-confirmed influenza cases were reported from other wards in Ireland; influenza type A viruses (98%) were detected more frequently than influenza type B viruses (2%). Of 6 subtyped influenza A viruses, 3 were A(H1)pdm09 and 3 were A(H3). No influenza B viruses were ascribed to a lineage.

Since week 40/2022, 110 influenza type A viruses and 6 influenza type B viruses were detected in Ireland. Of 6 subtyped influenza A viruses, 3 were A(H1)pdm09 and 3 A(H3). The 116 cases with known age fell in four age groups: 47 were 65 years and older, 43 were 15-64 years old, 18 were 5-14 years old and 8 were 0-4 years old.


Weekly influenza overview
Weeks 43/2022 (24-30October 2022)

• Kazakhstan, Malta and Portugal reported widespread influenza activity and/or high intensity.

The percentage of all sentinel primary care specimens from patients presenting with ILI or ARI symptoms that tested positive for an influenza virus increased to 8% from 7% in the previous week, which is below the epidemic threshold set at 10%.

• Germany, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Spain reported seasonal influenza activity above 10% positivity in sentinel primary care.

• Both influenza type A and type B viruses were detected among all monitoring systems, with influenza A(H3) viruses being dominant in sentinel and non-sentinel surveillance.

• Hospitalized cases with confirmed influenza virus infection were reported from intensive care units (1 type A virus), other wards (41 type A viruses and 1 type B virus) and SARI surveillance (56 type B viruses all from Kazakhstan and 5 type A viruses). When comparing the different influenza type distributions by system, it is important to consider that different sets of countries are reporting to each system.