OBJECTIVE To determine the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of influenza vaccination in the Thai elderly living in an urban community. MATERIAL AND METHOD The study design was a stratified, randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial. A total of 635 participants aged 60 years and older living in an urban community was randomized to receive an influenza vaccine or tetanus toxoid as a pla...

BACKGROUND Knowledge about influenza transmission in the workplace and whether staying home from work when experiencing influenza-like illness can reduce the spread of influenza is crucial for the design of efficient public health initiatives. AIM This review synthesizes current literature on sickness presenteeism and influenza transmission in the workplace and provides an overview of sick le...

Estimation of influenza infection rates is important for determination of the extent of epidemic spread and for calculation of severity indicators. The authors compared estimated infection rates from paired and cross-sectional serologic surveys, rates of influenza like illness (ILI) obtained from sentinel general practitioners (GPs), and ILI samples that tested positive for influenza using data...

In France, the 2011-2012 influenza epidemic was characterized by the circulation of antigenically drifted influenza A(H3N2) viruses and by an increased disease severity and mortality among the elderly, with respect to the A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic and post-pandemic outbreaks. Whether the epidemiology of influenza in France differed between the 2011-2012 epidemic and the previous outbreaks is unclea...

Objective To compare influenza-like illness (ILI) data reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet) with discharge diagnosis data for influenza from the same reporting source obtained through the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE) in Seminole Cou...

Analysis of Google influenza-like-illness (ILI) search queries has shown a strongly correlated pattern with Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention seasonal ILI reporting data. Web and social media provide another resource to detect increases in ILI. This paper evaluates trends in blog posts that discuss influenza. Our key finding is that from 5th October 2008 to 31st January 2009, a h...

BACKGROUND Pregnancy is a risk factor for severe influenza resulting in increased risks of hospitalisation and death in mothers and their new-borns. Our objective was to assess the representativeness and participation of French women to a new web-based collaborative tool for data collection and monitoring of Influenza Like Illness (ILI) during pregnancy. METHODS During the 2014/2015 influenza...

The 2009 novel influenza A(H1N1) (hereafter " nH1N1 ") pandemic has sparked renewed interest in, and controversy regarding , the use of respiratory protection to reduce influenza transmission. Use of masks to prevent influenza generally applies to 2 populations: health care workers (HCWs) providing care for patients with proven or suspected influenza to both protect the HCW and prevent nosocomi...