The late outbreak of influenza seen in New Zealand over the past 3-4 weeks has begun to subside and the weekly consultation rates for influenza like illness (ILI) which peaked at week 38 at approximately 120 cases of ILI per 100,000 consultations has subsided in the following 2 weeks (week 39 and 40) and are approaching base levels. A(H3) viruses still predominate (96%) with occassional B viruses (4%) and most A(H3) viruses were reported as being A/Fujian/411/2002 like. For full details see the NZ ESR Weekly update at http://www.surv.esr.cri.nz/PDF_surveillance/Virology/FluWeekRpt/FluWeekRpt200440.pdf