National Influenza Centers

National Influenza Centers (NIC) are institutions located at the country level that are responsible for the initial stage of collecting and sampling influenza viruses. They are part of the GISRS network, which includes over 143 NICs in 113 countries and 6 WHO Collaborating Centers (CCs). NICs play a crucial role in global influenza risk assessment and virological surveillance, and are part of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System. Their main function is to monitor the prevalent strains of influenza viruses in their respective countries.From: Pandemic Influenza [2019], Challenges in the development of egg-independent vaccines for influenza [2019], Protection against severe infectious disease in the past [2021]

The Great Influenza

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Published in Rae-Ellen W. Kavey, Allison B. Kavey, Viral Pandemics, 2020

Rae-Ellen W. Kavey, Allison B. Kavey

The WHO has been making annual recommendations for which viral strains to include in development of their annual vaccine since 1973, and from 1998 onwards, these have been made twice a year, for the Northern and Southern Hemisphere flu seasons. The WHO influenza network, now known as the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) has grown large and complex from its origin in 1947, with 143 institutions in 113 Member States, six Collaborating Centers and four Essential Regulatory Laboratories. GISRS monitors trends in circulating influenza strains year-round, collecting genetic data and identifying new mutations. The data are provided remotely by National Influenza Centers (NICs) of the GISRS and other national influenza reference laboratories collaborating actively with GISRS, or are uploaded from WHO regional databases.

Challenges in the development of egg-independent vaccines for influenza

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Journal Information

Published in Expert Review of Vaccines, 2019

Claudia Maria Trombetta, Serena Marchi, Ilaria Manini, Giacomo Lazzeri, Emanuele Montomoli

The GISRS network, which consists of over 143 National Influenza Centers (NICs) in 113 countries and 6 WHO Collaborating Centers (CCs), plays a key role in global influenza risk assessment and performs influenza virological surveillance. Together, these laboratories process around 500,000 respiratory specimens per year, in order to monitor influenza activity throughout the world. The information provided by GISRS is the basis for the selection of new influenza viruses to be included in the vaccine composition [18,21,24].

National Influenza Centers

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The Great Influenza

Challenges in the development of egg-independent vaccines for influenza