About the Authors

Jean Marie Cohen

jmcoco@openrome.org

Affiliations Open Rome (Organize and Promote Epidemiological Network), Paris, France, Réseau des GROG, Paris, France

Maria Laura Silva

Affiliation Open Rome (Organize and Promote Epidemiological Network), Paris, France

Saverio Caini

Affiliation Open Rome (Organize and Promote Epidemiological Network), Paris, France

Meral Ciblak

Affiliation Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

Anne Mosnier

Affiliations Open Rome (Organize and Promote Epidemiological Network), Paris, France, Réseau des GROG, Paris, France

Isabelle Daviaud

Affiliation Open Rome (Organize and Promote Epidemiological Network), Paris, France

Gonçalo Matias

Affiliation GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Biologicals, Brussels, Belgium

Selim Badur

Affiliation Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey

Martine Valette

Affiliation Virology Department, National Influenza Center, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1, Lyon, France

Vincent Enouf

Affiliation Virology Department, Unit of Molecular Genetics of RNA viruses, National Influenza Center, Pasteur Institute, CNRS UMR3569, Université Paris Diderot Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France

John Paget

Affiliation Netherlands Institute for Health Services research (NIVEL), Utrecht, The Netherlands

Douglas M. Fleming

Affiliation Royal College of General Practitioners, Surveillance and Research Unit, Birmingham, United Kingdom

IBGP study team

Membership of the IBGP study team is listed in the Acknowledgments.

Competing Interests

The authors have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: M.L.S., S.C., M.C., S.B., M.V. and V.E. declare having no conflicts of interest. J.M.C. and A.M. declare having received support for travel to meetings (Roche) and their institutions received grants from the study sponsor and from several pharmaceutical companies (Roche, AstraZeneca, Sanofi Pasteur MSD, GSK, Mylan) on matters relating to influenza surveillance and to the burden of illness due to influenza and its prevention. I.D. declares her institutions received grants from the study sponsor and from several pharmaceutical companies (Roche, AstraZeneca, Sanofi Pasteur MSD, GSK, Mylan) on matters relating to influenza surveillance and to the burden of illness due to influenza and it's prevention. W.J.P. has served on an influenza advisory board for GSK. G.M. declares being employed by GlaxoSmithKline Vaccines which has financed the IBGP study. D.F. declares having received consultancy payments from Open Rome relating to the design analysis and reporting of this material and having provided advisory board consultancy services to several pharmaceutical companies on matters relating to the burden of illness due to influenza and its prevention. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JMC GM JP DMF. Performed the experiments: JMC MLS MC AM ID MV VE. Analyzed the data: JMC MLS AM ID. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MV VE MC SB. Wrote the paper: JMC SC AM ID JP DMF.