Molecular and phylogenetic analyses of influenza B viruses isolated from pediatric inpatients in South Korea during the 2011–2012 winter season

Influenza B virus remains a major cause of respiratory diseases worldwide. Because of limited epidemiological and genetic data, the local and global transmission patterns of influenza B virus are not fully understood. Here we report the molecular and phylogenetic characterization of 163 influenza B virus isolates from pediatric inpatients with influenza-like illness in the winter of 2011–2012 in South Korea. Analysis of haemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes of the influenza B isolates revealed that both B/Victoria (62 %) and B/Yamagata lineages (38 %) co-circulated during that influenza season, and a considerable number of the isolates carried several amino acid substitutions in the four major antigenic epitopes of their haemagglutinin protein.