PlumX Metrics
Embed PlumX Metrics

Estimating vaccine-driven selection in seasonal influenza

Viruses, ISSN: 1999-4915, Vol: 10, Issue: 9
2018
  • 8
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 41
    Captures
  • 2
    Mentions
  • 10
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    8
  • Captures
    41
  • Mentions
    2
    • Blog Mentions
      1
      • Blog
        1
    • News Mentions
      1
      • 1
  • Social Media
    10
    • Shares, Likes & Comments
      10
      • Facebook
        10

Most Recent News

Is This Going To Be A Bad Year For The Flu In The US?

This is the time of year when Americans and other people living in the Northern Hemisphere begin to think about influenza. CDC data show that

Article Description

Vaccination could be an evolutionary pressure on seasonal influenza if vaccines reduce the transmission rates of some (“targeted”) strains more than others. In theory, more vaccinated populations should have a lower prevalence of targeted strains compared to less vaccinated populations. We tested for vaccine-induced selection in influenza by comparing strain frequencies between more and less vaccinated human populations. We defined strains in three ways: first as influenza types and subtypes, next as lineages of type B, and finally as clades of influenza A/H3N2. We detected spatial differences partially consistent with vaccine use in the frequencies of subtypes and types and between the lineages of influenza B, suggesting that vaccines do not select strongly among all these phylogenetic groups at regional scales. We did detect a significantly greater frequency of an H3N2 clade with known vaccine escape mutations in more vaccinated countries during the 2014–2015 season, which is consistent with vaccine-driven selection within the H3N2 subtype. Overall, we find more support for vaccine-driven selection when large differences in vaccine effectiveness suggest a strong effect size. Variation in surveillance practices across countries could obscure signals of selection, especially when strain-specific differences in vaccine effectiveness are small. Further examination of the influenza vaccine’s evolutionary effects would benefit from improvements in epidemiological surveillance and reporting.

Bibliographic Details

Provide Feedback

Have ideas for a new metric? Would you like to see something else here?Let us know