Department of Influenza Research, National Influenza Center, National Institute of Public Health-National Institute of Hygiene, 24 Chocimska St., 00-791, Warsaw, Poland,
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2013;788:77-82. doi: 10.1007/978-94-007-6627-3_12.
Influenza and influenza-like illnesses are recorded in all latitudes and in every age group. In Poland, the number of cases varies between several thousand and several million depending on the epidemic season. These figures are probably underestimated since a great deal of patients avoids consulting the doctor. To some extent, this situation is caused by the fear of financial loss resulting from being on sick leave. Influenza virus is classified into three types A, B, and C according to antigenic differences in their nuclear and matrix proteins. Influenza viruses are characterized by their high changeability in terms of hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). The changes may be referred to as antigenic drift that consists of point mutations in the genes encoding the HA and NA or sudden changes, referred to as antigenic shift that results from an exchange of gene segments encoding hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. Since there is an animal reservoir of influenza type A virus, reassortment of different subtypes of this virus may occur with type A virus strains which occur solely in the human. This can result in the creation of an entirely new strain with hemagglutinin and/or neuraminidase subtypes which have not been encountered in humans previously, to which a large part of the population will not be resistant and which therefore has a pandemic potential. Poland participates in the Global Influenza Surveillance System for influenza and influenza-like infection throughout the year and also during the epidemic season. The main objective of supervision is a continuous monitoring of the influenza situation in the country and the most rapid detection of the emergence of a new strain of influenza virus with pandemic potential.
流感和类流感疾病在所有纬度和各个年龄段都有记录。在波兰，根据流行季节的不同，病例数量在几千到几百万之间不等。由于许多患者避免看医生，这些数字可能被低估了。在某种程度上，这种情况是由于担心因请病假而导致经济损失。流感病毒根据其核蛋白和基质蛋白的抗原差异分为 A、B 和 C 三种类型。流感病毒的特点是其血凝素（HA）和神经氨酸酶（NA）高度变异性。这些变化可被称为抗原漂移，即编码 HA 和 NA 的基因发生点突变，或突然变化，称为抗原转变，这是由于编码血凝素和神经氨酸酶的基因片段交换所致。由于甲型流感病毒有动物储存库，因此不同亚型的这种病毒可能与仅在人类中发生的甲型病毒株发生重组。这可能导致产生一种全新的具有以前未在人类中遇到过的血凝素和/或神经氨酸酶亚型的菌株，人群中的很大一部分对此没有抵抗力，因此具有大流行的潜力。波兰全年以及流行季节都参与全球流感监测系统，对流感和类流感感染进行监测。监督的主要目标是持续监测国内的流感情况，并最快发现具有大流行潜力的新流感病毒株的出现。
