About the Authors

Saverio Caini

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – original draft

s.caini@nivel.nl

Affiliation Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel), Utrecht, The Netherlands

Gabriela Kusznierz

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Institute of Respiratory Diseases "Emilio Coni", Santa Fe, Argentina

Verònica Vera Garate

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Institute of Respiratory Diseases "Emilio Coni", Santa Fe, Argentina

Sonam Wangchuk

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Royal Centre for Disease Control, Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Thimphu, Bhutan

Binay Thapa

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Royal Centre for Disease Control, Department of Public Health, Ministry of Health, Thimphu, Bhutan

Francisco José de Paula Júnior

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Ministry of Health, Department of Surveillance of Transmissible Diseases, Brasília/DF, Brazil

Walquiria Aparecida Ferreira de Almeida

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Ministry of Health, Department of Surveillance of Transmissible Diseases, Brasília/DF, Brazil

Richard Njouom

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Virology Department, Centre Pasteur of Cameroon, Yaoundé, Cameroon

Rodrigo A. Fasce

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Sub-Department of Viral Diseases, Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile, Santiago, Chile

Patricia Bustos

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Sub-Department of Viral Diseases, Instituto de Salud Pública de Chile, Santiago, Chile

Luzhao Feng

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Division of Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, P.R. China

Zhibin Peng

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Division of Infectious Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, P.R. China

Jenny Lara Araya

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, Ministry of Health, San José, Costa Rica

Alfredo Bruno

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations National Institute of Public Health Research (INSPI), National Reference Centre for Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, Guayaquil, Ecuador, Agricultural University of Ecuador, Guayaquil, Ecuador

Doménica de Mora

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Institute of Public Health Research (INSPI), National Reference Centre for Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, Guayaquil, Ecuador

Mónica Jeannette Barahona de Gámez

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, Ministry of Health, San Salvador, El Salvador

Richard Pebody

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Public Health England, London, England, United Kingdom

Maria Zambon

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Public Health England, London, England, United Kingdom

Rocio Higueros

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, Ministry of Health, Guatemala City, Guatemala

Rudevelinda Rivera

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, Ministry of Health, Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Herman Kosasih

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation US Naval Medical Research Unit No.2, Jakarta, Indonesia

Maria Rita Castrucci

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy

Antonino Bella

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy

Hervé A. Kadjo

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Epidemic Virus, Institut Pasteur, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Coulibaly Daouda

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Service of Epidemiological Diseases Surveillance, National Institute of Public Hygiene, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Ainash Makusheva

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Center of Expertise, Committee of Public Health Protection, Ministry of Health, Astana, Kazakhstan

Olga Bessonova

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Center of Expertise, Committee of Public Health Protection, Ministry of Health, Uralsk City, Kazakhstan

Sandra S. Chaves

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, Influenza Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nairobi, Kenya

Gideon O. Emukule

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Influenza Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Nairobi, Kenya

Jean-Michel Heraud

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, Virology Unit, Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Antananarivo, Madagascar

Norosoa H. Razanajatovo

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, Virology Unit, Institut Pasteur de Madagascar, Antananarivo, Madagascar

Amal Barakat

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, Institut National d'Hygiène, Ministry of Health, Rabat, Morocco

Fatima El Falaki

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, Institut National d'Hygiène, Ministry of Health, Rabat, Morocco

Adam Meijer

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Centre for Infectious Diseases Research, Diagnostics and Laboratory Surveillance, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

Gé A. Donker

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel), Utrecht, The Netherlands

Q. Sue Huang

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Weillngton, New Zealand

Tim Wood

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Institute of Environmental Science and Research, Weillngton, New Zealand

Angel Balmaseda

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, Ministry of Health, Managua, Nicaragua

Rakhee Palekar

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Pan American Health Organization, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America

Brechla Moreno Arévalo

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Center, IC Gorgas, Panama City, Panama

Ana Paula Rodrigues

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of epidemiology, National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal

Raquel Guiomar

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Influenza Reference Laboratory, National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal

Vernon Jian Ming Lee

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Public Health Group, Ministry of Health, Singapore, Singapore

Li Wei Ang

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Public Health Group, Ministry of Health, Singapore, Singapore

Cheryl Cohen

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa, School of Public Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Florette Treurnicht

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis, National Institute for Communicable Diseases of the National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa

Alla Mironenko

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation L.V.Gromashevsky Institute of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases, National Academy of Medical Science of Ukraine, Department of Respiratory and other Viral Infections, Kyiv, Ukraine

Olha Holubka

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation L.V.Gromashevsky Institute of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases, National Academy of Medical Science of Ukraine, Department of Respiratory and other Viral Infections, Kyiv, Ukraine

Joseph Bresee

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Influenza Division, National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Lynnette Brammer

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Influenza Division, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America

Mai T. Q. Le

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Hanoi, Vietnam

Phuong V. M. Hoang

Roles Data curation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Hanoi, Vietnam

Clotilde El Guerche-Séblain

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Global Vaccine Epidemiology and Modeling Department (VEM), Franchise Epidemiologist, Sanofi Pasteur, Lyon, France

John Paget

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (Nivel), Utrecht, The Netherlands

the Global Influenza B Study team

The complete membership of the author group can be found in the Acknowledgments.

Competing Interests

Clotilde El-Guerche Séblain is an employee of Sanofi Pasteur. She was the coordinator of the research project at Sanofi Pasteur, she helped define the study objectives, and critically revised the manuscript. When reviewing the manuscript, the revisions concerned the epidemiological findings of the study and not the public health findings or conclusions. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Cheryl Cohen has received grant support from Sanofi Pasteur, Advanced Vaccine Initiative, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and payment of travel costs from Parexel. All of the other authors declare that they have no conflict of interests to disclose.