How immunity shapes the long-term dynamics of influenza H3N2.

ABSTRACT: Since its emergence in 1968, influenza A H3N2 has caused yearly epidemics in temperate regions. While infection confers immunity against antigenically similar strains, new antigenically distinct strains that evade existing immunity regularly emerge ('antigenic drift'). Immunity at the individual level is complex, depending on an individual's lifetime infection history. An individual's first infection with influenza typically elicits the greatest response with subsequent infections eliciting progressively reduced responses ('antigenic seniority'). The combined effect of individual-level immune responses and antigenic drift on the epidemiological dynamics of influenza are not well understood. Here we develop an integrated modelling framework of influenza transmission, immunity, and antigenic

SUBMITTER: Eales O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11964465 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature