Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (JPIDS)
Volume 5 Issue 1 March 2016
http://jpids.oxfordjournals.org/content/current

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SLIPE HIGHLIGHTS: UPDATE FROM LATIN AMERICA
Influenza B Burden in Latin America and Potential Benefits of the New Quadrivalent Vaccines
Luiza Helena Falleiros Arlant, Lucia F. Bricks
Extract
Respiratory infections caused by the influenza virus have a huge impact on public health. Influenza vaccination offers many benefits to not only patients at high risk for complications of influenza but also to healthy individuals [1]. Because of pandemics, influenza A virus is perceived to carry greater risk than influenza B [2]. However, both types of influenza virus can affect people of any age group, and they cause clinically indistinguishable infections and pose equal risks [1, 2].
Globally, the influenza type B virus causes 20% to 25% of influenza infections. Influenza B viruses include 2 antigenically distinguished lineages, Victoria and Yamagata, which have been cocirculating globally since 2002 [3]. Circulation of the B lineages varies from year to year, so predicting which one to include in the next year’s trivalent influenza vaccine (IIV3) is difficult. In fact, data from the United States and Europe indicate that in half of the influenza seasons over the past decade, the B lineage included in …