Annual influenza epidemics in the United States cause hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations.

Global influenza and COVID-19 activity stayed low in late October 2025. COVID-19 was more common in northern regions, while influenza spread mainly in tropical areas.

In self‐controlled case series studies, laboratory‐confirmed influenza infection was associated with an elevated risk of acute myocardial infarction and stroke during the first 1 month.

It’s difficult to predict just how severe the influenza season will be each year, but public health experts say it could be harsh in Europe due to lagging vaccination rates and early signals from far-flung countries such as Japan and Australia.

Two large-scale trials comparing high-dose inactivated influenza vaccine (HD-IIV) versus standard-dose inactivated influenza vaccine (SD-IIV) against hospitalisation outcomes have been conducted in Denmark and Spain.

The Steering Group on the Prevention of Respiratory Infections launched a new manifesto at the #EURespiDay event held at the European Parliament in Brussels

Influenza 2024–2025 season in France was characterized by prolonged duration, unusual co-circulation of all three viruses (A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2), B/Victoria) with several subclades, and substantial healthcare impact.

ESWI held a very successful Roundtable on 15 September in Vienna, focusing on facilitating dialogue to improve influenza prevention, control and vaccine uptake.