Description

This manual was jointly developed by five World Health Organization Collaborating Centres (WHOCCs) for influenza (the WHOCC for Reference and Research on Influenza, Melbourne, Australia; the WHOCC for Reference and Research on Influenza, Tokyo, Japan; the WHOCC for Reference and Research on Influenza, London, United Kingdom; the WHOCC for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Control of Influenza, Atlanta, United States; and the WHOCC for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals, Memphis, United States. The special contribution of the WHOCC for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Control of Influenza in Atlanta is acknowledged, in particular the efforts of Henrietta Hall and Thomas Rowe in preparing the manual, and of Nancy Cox and Alexandra Klimov in its primary reviewing and editing. WHO also wishes to acknowledge the contributions of three national reference laboratories (the Therapeutic Goods Administration Laboratories, Canberra, Australia; the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, London, United Kingdom; and the Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Rockville, United States) and of the National Influenza Centre, China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The sharing by influenza experts of laboratory protocols for the diagnosis of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in humans is also acknowledged.