BACKGROUND The public health response to pandemic influenza is contingent on the pandemic strain's severity. In late April 2009, a potentially pandemic novel H1N1 influenza strain (nH1N1) was recognized. New York City (NYC) experienced an intensive initial outbreak that peaked in late May, providing the need and opportunity to rapidly quantify the severity of nH1N1. METHODS AND FINDINGS Telep...

PROBLEM The revision of the International Health Regulations (IHR) and the threat of influenza pandemics and other disease outbreaks with a major impact on developing countries have prompted bolstered surveillance capacity, particularly in low-resource settings. APPROACH Surveillance tools with well-timed, validated data are necessary to strengthen disease surveillance. In 2007 Madagascar imp...

BACKGROUND The World Health Organisation recommends outpatient influenza-like illness (ILI) and inpatient severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) surveillance. We evaluated two influenza surveillance systems in South Africa: one for ILI and another for SARI. METHODOLOGY The Viral Watch (VW) programme has collected virological influenza surveillance data voluntarily from patients with ILI sinc...

OBJECTIVES We aim to estimate the prevalence of influenza-like illness (ILI) by occupation and to identify occupations associated with increased ILI prevalence. METHODS Between September 2009 and August 2010, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) included questions on ILI symptoms on the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). Washington State collects the occupation of all employ...

School children may transmit pathogens with cluster cases occurring on campuses and in families. In response to the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, Taipei City Government officials developed a School-based Infectious Disease Syndromic Surveillance System (SID-SSS). Teachers and nurses from preschools to universities in all 12 districts within Taipei are required to daily report cases of sympt...

The aim of this multicentre study was to assess incidence of influenza like illness (ILI) among Italian medical residents (MRs) during 2011-2012 influenza season, to detect variables associated with ILI and to compare estimated ILI incidence among MRs and general population. A cross-sectional survey was carried out throughout an anonymous questionnaire administered to all MRs attending the post...

Methods The data elements that were included in this study were: daily emergency department (ED) ILI rate, 7 day moving average ED ILI rate, zip code, and date from October 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014. The data region was the catchment area of an urban academic medical center (AMC). The data were processed using the GUARDIAN (Geographic Utilization of Artificial Intelligence in Real-Time for Dise...

On May 12, 2009, at 2:20 PM, a random sample of 982,708 telephones from an 18 million nationwide network of mostly prepaid cell phones (1) received a text message invitation to a Ministry of Health survey. Influenza-like illness (ILI) in April, date of fever onset, severity, number of household members with ILI, age, influenza vaccination, household size, and number of children in each househol...

The Australian Sentinel Practice Research Network (ASPREN) is a national network of general practitioners (GPs) who collect and report data on selected conditions, including influenza-like illness (ILI). The Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing initiated an evaluation of ASPREN, aiming to assess its potential to contribute to surveillance of emerging infectious diseases includi...

BACKGROUND In many Latin American countries, official influenza reports are neither timely nor complete, and surveillance of influenza-like illness (ILI) remains thin in consistency and precision. Public participation with mobile technology may offer new ways of identifying nonmedically attended cases and reduce reporting delays, but no published studies to date have assessed the viability of I...