H1N1v at a seroepidemiological glance: is the nightmare over?

When the second wave of pandemic influenza A H1N1v 2009 (H1N1v) emerged in the winter of 2010/2011, public health authorities were afraid of dangerous implications and severe clinical courses again. As further H1N1v waves might appear, achievement of sufficient herd immunity is a matter of urgency. The objective of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of antibodies against H1N1v by hemagglutination-inhibition test (HI) after the second wave. We compared our recent findings with our data obtained after the first pandemic in 2009/2010. Between March and May 2011 we collected serum samples from 600 persons aged 1 to 84 years admitted to University Hospital Frankfurt/Main and analysed the titres of anti-H1N1v by HI. The overall seroprevalence of anti-H1N1v has risen from 36.9% (95% confidence interval (95%CI), 33–41) in unvaccinated persons after the first wave to 57.3% (95%CI, 53.1–61.2) in vaccinated and unvaccinated. The highest rate of seropositivity was detected in the age group of 10–19 years (66%; 95%CI, 55.8–75.2), whereas the lowest was found in the age group 40–59 years (51%; 95%CI, 40.8–61.1). Although seroprevalence has significantly increased, sufficient herd immunity is still not achieved. Therefore, general vaccination programs have to be propagated continuously by public health authorities.