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Editor, Senior Moderator
Published 23 June 2010, doi:10.1136/bmj.c3379
Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c3379
News
Telephone and internet surveys will improve estimates of flu incidence, experts say
Jo Carlowe
Experts have admitted that accurate predictions of the incidence of the H1N1 flu pandemic in the United Kingdom proved a near impossible challenge.
Huge discrepancies existed between the data collected by different organisations, they said. For example, the Royal College of General Practitioners reported far fewer confirmed cases of H1N1 flu than Flu Watch, a national cohort study of flu transmission and immunity (www.fluwatch.co.uk).
However, much of this variation was explicable, experts were told at the UK Health Protection Agency?s conference on pandemic flu held in London on 21 and 22 June.
Andrew Hayward, of University College London and chief investigator of the Flu Watch study, noted that conventional flu surveillance assesses only "the tip of the iceberg"?those people who consult their doctor. So the royal college?s figures took into account only people who sought out health services for their flu symptoms, whereas Flu Watch recruited whole households .
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/shor...m_campaign=Feed: bmj/recent (Latest from BMJ)
Cite this as: BMJ 2010;340:c3379
News
Telephone and internet surveys will improve estimates of flu incidence, experts say
Jo Carlowe
Experts have admitted that accurate predictions of the incidence of the H1N1 flu pandemic in the United Kingdom proved a near impossible challenge.
Huge discrepancies existed between the data collected by different organisations, they said. For example, the Royal College of General Practitioners reported far fewer confirmed cases of H1N1 flu than Flu Watch, a national cohort study of flu transmission and immunity (www.fluwatch.co.uk).
However, much of this variation was explicable, experts were told at the UK Health Protection Agency?s conference on pandemic flu held in London on 21 and 22 June.
Andrew Hayward, of University College London and chief investigator of the Flu Watch study, noted that conventional flu surveillance assesses only "the tip of the iceberg"?those people who consult their doctor. So the royal college?s figures took into account only people who sought out health services for their flu symptoms, whereas Flu Watch recruited whole households .
http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/shor...m_campaign=Feed: bmj/recent (Latest from BMJ)