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Epidemiology of seasonal influenza in the Middle East and North Africa regions, 2010-2016: circulating influenza A and B viruses and spatial timing of epidemics

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  • Epidemiology of seasonal influenza in the Middle East and North Africa regions, 2010-2016: circulating influenza A and B viruses and spatial timing of epidemics

    Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2018 Feb 5. doi: 10.1111/irv.12544. [Epub ahead of print]
    Epidemiology of seasonal influenza in the Middle East and North Africa regions, 2010-2016: circulating influenza A and B viruses and spatial timing of epidemics.

    Caini S1, El-Guerche S?blain C2, Ciblak MA3, Paget J1.
    Author information

    Abstract

    BACKGROUND:

    There is limited knowledge regarding the epidemiology of influenza in Middle East and North Africa.
    OBJECTIVES:

    We described the patterns of influenza circulation and the timing of seasonal epidemics in countries of Middle East and North Africa.
    METHODS:

    We used virological surveillance data for 2010-2016 from the WHO-FluNet database. In each country, we calculated the median proportion of cases that were caused by each virus type and subtype; determined the timing and amplitude of the primary and secondary peaks; and used linear regression models to test for spatial trends in the timing of epidemics.
    RESULTS:

    We included 70,532 influenza cases from seventeen countries. Influenza A and B accounted for a median 76.5% and 23.5% of cases in a season, and were the dominant type in 86.8% and 13.2% of seasons. The proportion of influenza A cases that were subtyped was 85.9%, while only 4.4% of influenza B cases were characterized. For most countries, influenza seasonality was similar to the Northern Hemisphere, with a single large peak between January and March; exceptions were the countries in the Arabian Peninsula and Jordan, all of which showed clear secondary peaks, and some countries had an earlier primary peak (in November-December in Bahrain and Qatar). The direction of the timing of influenza activity was east-to-west and south-to-north in 2012-2013 and 2015-2016, and west-to-east in 2014-2015.
    CONCLUSIONS:

    The epidemiology of influenza is generally uniform in countries of Middle East and North Africa, with influenza B playing an important role in the seasonal disease burden. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
    This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


    KEYWORDS:

    Influenza type A; Middle East; North Africa; influenza type B; timing of epidemics

    PMID: 29405575 DOI: 10.1111/irv.12544
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