Volume 10, Number 1, January 2004

Influenza Epidemics in the United States, France, and Australia, 1972–1997

Cécile Viboud,*† Pierre-Yves Boëlle,*‡ Khashayar Pakdaman,* Fabrice Carrat,*‡ Alain-Jacques Valleron,*‡ Antoine Flahault*†‡
*Institute National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Paris, France; †World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Electronic Diseases Surveillance, Paris, France; and ‡Hôpitaux de Paris, CHU Saint-Antoine, Paris, France

Figure 2. Correlation in the impact of influenza epidemics for 26 influenza years (1972–1997), measured by the annual number of pneumonia and influenza excess deaths. A, excess deaths per million in France (y axis) and the United States (x axis) in contemporaneous winters: Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.76 (p < 0.001). C, Excess deaths per million in Australia (y axis) and the United States (x axis), considering the scenario in which the influenza season in Australia is systematically 6 months before that of the United States: Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.14 (p = 0.50). C, excess deaths per million in Australia (y axis) and France (x axis), considering the scenario where the influenza season in Australia is systematically 6 months before that of France: Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.37 (p = 0.06). We obtained similar results as in B and C, when we considered a reverse scenario in which the influenza season in Australia was systematically lagging 6 months behind that in the United States or France.

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This page last reviewed December 22, 2003

Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal
National Center for Infectious Diseases
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