Flu News Europe

Season overview

The seasonal epidemic activity threshold of 10% positivity in sentinel specimens was first crossed in week 45/2022.      
Following a peak at week 51/2022 with 39% positivity, influenza activity had been decreasing across the Region until week 4/2023 when it reached 21% positivity before rising again to fluctuate around 25% positivity between weeks 6 and 11/2023 before decreasing below 10% positivity in week 16/2023.      
Overall this season, influenza A(H3) viruses have dominated in sentinel primary care specimens, however higher circulation of A(H1)pdm09 and type B viruses was observed starting from week 50/2022 and week 2/2023, respectively. In non-sentinel specimens, higher circulation of A(H1)pdm09 (55%) than A(H3) viruses (45%) was detected.      
Both influenza type A and type B viruses have been detected in hospitalized patients in ICU and other wards and influenza A(H1)pdm09 viruses have dominated among SARI patients.   
Virus type and subtype prevalence by country and surveillance system has been variable across the season.     
The B/Yamagata viruses sporadically detected and reported by different countries have been further investigated and were proven to be LAIV related detections.

For information about the SARS-CoV-2 situation in the WHO European Region visit:

Influenza positivity

For the European Region, influenza virus positivity in sentinel primary care specimens remained below the epidemic threshold, which is set at 10%.

External data sources

Mortality monitoring

The EuroMOMO report can be found here: https://www.euromomo.eu/ 

Please refer to the EuroMOMO websitefor a cautionary note relating to interpretation of these data. 