Population seasonal nAMP means ± SDs are shown in Table 1 and were consistent between institutions within a given year. For example, in Table 1 in 2014, nAMPs of 172.6 ± 70.2 (N = 194), 165.4 ± 76.1 (N = 232) and 160.1 ± 80.6 (N = 475) were calculated for the Matrix gene assay for all positive H1N1 strains at UFHealth, BayCare Health System, and Memorial Healthcare System respectively. These institutions are 150–300 miles apart and do not share patient populations. In contrast, mean ± SD matrix gene nAMPs for the 3 different Influenza seasons (2012–13, 2013–14, and 2014–15) were highly statistically different, the 2013–14 H1N1 seasonal average being more than twice that of the 2014–15 season (ANOVA, p < 0.0001). A similar pattern was observed for the HA subtype gene assay as well (ANOVA, p < 0.0001). The 2012–2013 H3N2 matrix gene nAMPs appear to be higher than those of the 2014–2015 H3N2 season and further analysis (see Figs. 1, 2, 3) suggests that in fact the average nAMPs in the 2012–2013 H3N2 season at UFHealth may have been bi-modal, whereas the distribution is clearly unimodal for 2013–2014 and 2014–2015. In these Figures, the matrix gene nAMPs are graphed vs the corresponding subtype gene nAMPS, making the subpopulation in the 2012–2013 season easily visualized.Fig. 1Matrix gene nAMPs graphed vs Subtype gene for 2012–2013 H3N2 season at UFHealth Shands hospital. There appears to be a subpopulation with relatively higher Matrix gene nAMPs Fig. 2Matrix gene nAMPs graphed vs Subtype gene for 2013–2014 H1N1 season at UFHealth Shands hospital. There appears to be a relatively uniform ratio of the Matrix gene to Subtype gene nAMPs Fig. 3Matrix gene nAMPs graphed vs Subtype gene for 2014–2015 H3N2 season at UFHealth Shands hospital. In contrast to the 2012–2013 season, except for 3 individuals, there is an essentially uniform ratio of the Matrix gene to Subtype gene nAMPs