TY - GEN T1 - Start of the 2014/15 influenza season in Europe: drifted influenza A(H3N2) viruses circulate as dominant subtype AU - Broberg, E. AU - Snacken, R. AU - Adlhoch, Cornelia AU - Beauté, J. AU - Galinska, M. AU - Pereyaslov, D. AU - Brown, C. AU - Penttinen, P. AU - Buda, Silke AU - Schweiger, Brunhilde AB - The influenza season 2014/15 started in Europe in week 50 2014 with influenza A(H3N2) viruses predominating. The majority of the A(H3N2) viruses characterised antigenically and/or genetically differ from the northern hemisphere vaccine component which may result in reduced vaccine effectiveness for the season. We therefore anticipate that this season may be more severe than the 2013/14 season. Treating influenza with antivirals in addition to prevention with vaccination will be important. KW - Human/virology KW - Human/diagnosis KW - Influenza KW - Humans KW - Adolescent KW - Adult KW - Aged KW - Middle Aged KW - Young Adult KW - Phylogeny KW - Europe/epidemiology KW - Child Preschool KW - Infant KW - Child KW - Influenza A Virus H3N2 Subtype/isolation & purification KW - Influenza A Virus H1N1 Subtype KW - Disease Outbreaks/statistics & numerical data* KW - Hospitalization/statistics & numerical data KW - Influenza A Virus H3N2 Subtype/classification KW - Influenza A Virus H3N2 Subtype/genetics* KW - Influenza B virus KW - Human/epidemiology* KW - Seasons* KW - Sentinel Surveillance* KW - 610 Medizin PY - 2015 LA - eng PB - Robert Koch-Institut, Infektionskrankheiten / Erreger VL - 20 IS - 4 DO - 10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.4.21023 ER -