Influenza antiviral surveillance in Argentina

PONTORIERO ANDREA; RUSSO MARA; BENEDETTI ESTEFANIA; AVARO MARTIN; CZECH ANDREA; CAMPOS ANA; PERIOLO NATALIA,; SAVY, VILMA; BAUMEISTER, ELSA

Cape Town, South Africa

Congreso; Options for the Control of Influenza VIII; 2013

Effective surveillance for influenza antiviral resistance is a key instrument for rapid detection of viral variants, allowing the establishment of control measures. Until recently, surveillance of antiviral susceptibility was poorly developed in South America. In 2010, the National Influenza Center (NIC) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, began a 2-year collaborative project with the Health Protection Agency (HPA), United Kingdom (UK), to establish a surveillance network in South America to monitor influenza antiviral drug resistance. A further 5 South American Countries also participated in this project: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay. Since 2006 in Argentina, as a result of project and the support of the WHO Influenza Collaborating Centres at CDC, (Atlanta, USA) and NIMR (London, UK), it has been possible to obtain retrospective as well as current local data about the antiviral susceptibility of influenza A and B viruses.