Early and unexpectedly severe start of influenza epidemic in the Czech Republic during influenza season 2012-13

J Kyncl; M Havlickova; A Nagy; H Jirincova; I Piskova

doi:10.2807/ese.18.06.20396-en

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Early and unexpectedly severe start of influenza epidemic in the Czech Republic during influenza season 2012-13
J Kyncl^1,2 , M Havlickova³ , A Nagy³ , H Jirincova³ , I Piskova⁴
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Affiliations: ¹ Department of Infectious Diseases Epidemiology, National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic ² Department of Epidemiology, Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic ³ National Reference Laboratory for Influenza, National Institute of Public Health, Prague, Czech Republic ⁴ Epidemiology Division, Department of Public Health Protection, Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic

Correspondence:
J Kyncl
jkyncl szu.cz
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Citation style for this article: Kyncl J, Havlickova M, Nagy A, Jirincova H, Piskova I. Early and unexpectedly severe start of influenza epidemic in the Czech Republic during influenza season 2012-13. Euro Surveill. 2013;18(6):pii=20396. https://doi.org/10.2807/ese.18.06.20396-en Received: 30 Jan 2013

Abstract

A sudden increase in severe influenza has been registered in the Czech Republic since the end of 2012, with 264 cases requiring intensive care, including 51 deaths. Most patients had at least one risk factor. Severe influenza in patients with obesity, smoking and/or haematological disorders including haematological cancers was more frequent than in the pre-pandemic period. The seasonal influenza vaccination status of the cases indicates indirect efficiency of the current vaccine in preventing severe influenza.