Pre- and postpandemic estimates of 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) seroprotection to inform surveillance-based incidence, by age, during the 2013-2014 epidemic in Canada

Abstract

To understand the epidemic resurgence of influenza due to the 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1) strain (A[H1N1]pdm09) during the 2013-2014 influenza season, we compared age-related cross-sectional estimates of seroprotection before the pandemic (during 2009) and after the pandemic (during 2010 and 2013) to subsequent surveillance-based, laboratory-confirmed incidence of influenza due to A(H1N1)pdm09 in British Columbia, Canada. Prepandemic seroprotection was negligible except for very old adults (defined as adults aged ≥ 80 years), among whom 80% had seroprotection. Conversely, postpandemic seroprotection followed a U-shaped distribution, with detection in approximately 35%-45% of working-aged adults but in ≥ 70% of very old adults and young children, excluding children aged <5 years in 2013, among whom seroprotection again decreased to <20%. The incidence was 5-fold higher during 2013-2014, compared with 2010-2011, and was highest among children aged <5 years and working-aged adults, reflecting a mirror image of the age-based seroprotection data.

Keywords: A(H1N1)pdm09; hemagglutination inhibition; incidence; influenza; seroprotection; serosurvey; surveillance.