ArticleBulletin of the World Health Organization2014
Influenza seasonality and vaccination timing in tropical and subtropical areas of southern and south-eastern Asia.
Article in Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 118 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
118 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 188 citations in OpenAlex.
- Seasonal influenza vaccine policy, use and effectiveness in the tropics and subtropics - a systematic literature review.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2016Pooled it
- Uptake and effectiveness of facemask against respiratory infections at mass gatherings: a systematic review.International journal of infectious diseases : IJID : official publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases · 2016Pooled it
- Efficacy of live attenuated and inactivated influenza vaccines among children in rural India: A 2-year, randomized, triple-blind, placebo-controlled trial.PLoS medicine · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Year-round influenza immunisation during pregnancy in Nepal: a phase 4, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.The Lancet. Infectious diseases · 2017Trial
- Human Sentinel Surveillance of Influenza and Other Respiratory Viral Pathogens in Border Areas of Western Cambodia.PloS one · 2016Trial
- Resurgence of Influenza Following the Lifting of Non-pharmaceutical Interventions in Shenzhen, China.Journal of epidemiology · 2026Article
- Clinical and genomic characterization of Influenza A co-infection with SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza B: a respiratory surveillance study in Assam, India.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Noisy periodicity in tropical respiratory disease dynamics.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Temporal trends and burden of influenza B virus lineages in Dibrugarh, Assam (2014-2025): predominance of Victoria with early circulation of Yamagata.Archives of virology · 2026Article
- Article
- Influenza surveillance and vaccine policy in Thailand-a historical perspective.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2025Review
- Clinical Burden of Pediatric Influenza A and B in Malaysia: Outcomes and Resource Utilization in A Tropical Setting.Infection & chemotherapy · 2025Article
- Fighting the flu in the tropics: The role of influenza vaccination in Southeast Asia.Asia Pacific allergy · 2025Article
- Seasonality of Influenza and Optimizing Timing of Vaccination: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Cureus · 2025Review
- The Potential for Twice-Annual Influenza Vaccination to Reduce Disease Burden.Influenza and other respiratory viruses · 2025Article
- Disruption of seasonal influenza circulation and evolution during the 2009 H1N1 and COVID-19 pandemics in Southeastern Asia.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Factors associated with hospitalization of people with influenza in a Malaysian tertiary hospital from 2015 to 2019.PloS one · 2025Article
- IAPSM's Position Paper on Influenza Vaccines for Adult Immunization in India.Indian journal of community medicine : official publication of Indian Association of Preventive & Social Medicine · 2024Article
- Article
58 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
34 authors at 15 institutions in 11 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo characterize influenza seasonality and identify the best time of the year for vaccination against influenza in tropical and subtropical countries of southern and south-eastern Asia that lie north of the equator.
methodsWeekly influenza surveillance data for 2006 to 2011 were obtained from Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam. Weekly rates of influenza activity were based on the percentage of all nasopharyngeal samples collected during the year that tested positive for influenza virus or viral nucleic acid on any given week. Monthly positivity rates were then calculated to define annual peaks of influenza activity in each country and across countries.
findingsInfluenza activity peaked between June/July and October in seven countries, three of which showed a second peak in December to February. Countries closer to the equator had year-round circulation without discrete peaks. Viral types and subtypes varied from year to year but not across countries in a given year. The cumulative proportion of specimens that tested positive from June to November was > 60% in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. Thus, these tropical and subtropical countries exhibited earlier influenza activity peaks than temperate climate countries north of the equator.
conclusionMost southern and south-eastern Asian countries lying north of the equator should consider vaccinating against influenza from April to June; countries near the equator without a distinct peak in influenza activity can base vaccination timing on local factors.
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