Co-organized by PolyU and the World Health Organization (WHO), the 4th WHO Informal Consultation for Improving Influenza Vaccine Virus Selection was held on 18-20 November in Hong Kong. The meeting brought together 120 local and international influenza experts to discuss methods to enhance global surveillance of circulating and emerging influenza viruses, and to anticipate the flu virus strains for better targeting the prevalent virus strain at the time of vaccination.
Following the consultation meeting, a training workshop titled “Genetic Analyses of Influenza Viruses” was co-organized by PolyU’s Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data and the International Society for Influenza and other Respiratory Virus Diseases, with the support of WHO. Researchers shared genetic data and explored the epidemiology, virus evolution, emergence and spread of novel genetic and antigenic variants of influenza. Details>>