Annual report Surveillance of influenza and other respiratory infections in the Netherlands: winter 2014/2015.

Key points - Lasting a total of 21 weeks, the influenza epidemic in the Netherlands in the winter of 2014/2015 had the longest duration since more than 40 years. - The high number of influenza cases has probably led to more pneumonia cases, which is a known complication of influenza, and to higher mortality. - During the epidemic period, more than 65,000 persons died in the Netherlands; this is approximately 8,600 persons more than the expected number of deaths in this 21-week period. - This winter, the vaccine effectiveness was lower than expected. It remains unclear whether this contributed to the long duration of the epidemic. Read more in the publication.