Timing of seasonal influenza epidemics for 25 countries in Africa during 2010-19: a retrospective analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Using country-specific surveillance data to describe influenza epidemic activity could inform decisions on the timing of influenza vaccination. We analysed surveillance data from African countries to characterise the timing of seasonal influenza epidemics to inform national vaccination strategies.

Methods

We used publicly available sentinel data from African countries reporting to the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response FluNet platform that had 3-10 years of data collected during 2010-19. We calculated a 3-week moving proportion of samples positive for influenza virus and assessed epidemic timing using an aggregate average method. The start and end of each epidemic were defined as the first week when the proportion of positive samples exceeded or went b

SUBMITTER: Igboh LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10126228 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature