Provided are nucleic acid sequences that are used to prepare primers and probes that are used in a kinetic polymerase chain reaction (kPCR) assay to detect influenza viruses in a human or animal subject. The starting material for the kPCR assays may be DNA or RNA and the assays may be conducted in a singleplex assay to detect a single influenza virus or in a multiplex assay to detect multiple influenza viruses. The primers and probes have utility in the detection and quantification of type A and type B influenza viruses (INFA and INFB, respectively) and have been shown to be effective for the detection and quantification of all the known INFA subtypes, namely, H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6, H7, H8, and H9.