Persistent predominance of the Victoria lineage of influenza B virus during COVID‐19 epidemic in Nanchang, China

Abstract

AbstractThe sentinel hospital‐based influenza‐like illness (ILI) surveillance network was established in China since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. This network plays important roles in monitoring influenza virus variation and identifying novel respiratory pathogens. In this study, we characterized the pathogen spectrum pattern (PSP) of ILI based on three sentinel hospitals and analyzed the significant change of PSP during the COVID‐19 epidemic. The notable change of influenza virus spectrum was observed since the beginning of COVID‐19 outbreak, and we found persistent domination of Victoria lineage of influenza B virus and “extinction” of A/H1N1, A/H3N2, and B/Yamagata during the dynamic Zero‐COVID‐19 pandemic in Nanchang, China. However, these strains intermittently co‐circulated before the COVID‐19.