tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Epidemiol Infect. 2014 Jul 15:1-12. [Epub ahead of print]
Harmonizing influenza primary-care surveillance in the United Kingdom: piloting two methods to assess the timing and intensity of the seasonal epidemic across several general practice-based surveillance schemes.
Green HK1, Charlett A1, Moran-Gilad J1, Fleming D2, Durnall H2, Thomas DR3, Cottrell S3, Smyth B4, Kearns C4, Reynolds AJ5, Smith GE6, Elliot AJ6, Ellis J7, Zambon M7, Watson JM1, McMENAMIN J5, Pebody RG1.
Author information
Abstract
SUMMARY General Practitioner consultation rates for influenza-like illness (ILI) are monitored through several geographically distinct schemes in the UK, providing early warning to government and health services of community circulation and intensity of activity each winter. Following on from the 2009 pandemic, there has been a harmonization initiative to allow comparison across the distinct existing surveillance schemes each season. The moving epidemic method (MEM), proposed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for standardizing reporting of ILI rates, was piloted in 2011/12 and 2012/13 along with the previously proposed UK method of empirical percentiles. The MEM resulted in thresholds that were lower than traditional thresholds but more appropriate as indicators of the start of influenza virus circulation. The intensity of the influenza season assessed with the MEM was similar to that reported through the percentile approach. The MEM pre-epidemic threshold has now been adopted for reporting by each country of the UK. Further work will continue to assess intensity of activity and apply standardized methods to other influenza-related data sources.
PMID:
25023603
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25023603
Harmonizing influenza primary-care surveillance in the United Kingdom: piloting two methods to assess the timing and intensity of the seasonal epidemic across several general practice-based surveillance schemes.
Green HK1, Charlett A1, Moran-Gilad J1, Fleming D2, Durnall H2, Thomas DR3, Cottrell S3, Smyth B4, Kearns C4, Reynolds AJ5, Smith GE6, Elliot AJ6, Ellis J7, Zambon M7, Watson JM1, McMENAMIN J5, Pebody RG1.
Author information
Abstract
SUMMARY General Practitioner consultation rates for influenza-like illness (ILI) are monitored through several geographically distinct schemes in the UK, providing early warning to government and health services of community circulation and intensity of activity each winter. Following on from the 2009 pandemic, there has been a harmonization initiative to allow comparison across the distinct existing surveillance schemes each season. The moving epidemic method (MEM), proposed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for standardizing reporting of ILI rates, was piloted in 2011/12 and 2012/13 along with the previously proposed UK method of empirical percentiles. The MEM resulted in thresholds that were lower than traditional thresholds but more appropriate as indicators of the start of influenza virus circulation. The intensity of the influenza season assessed with the MEM was similar to that reported through the percentile approach. The MEM pre-epidemic threshold has now been adopted for reporting by each country of the UK. Further work will continue to assess intensity of activity and apply standardized methods to other influenza-related data sources.
PMID:
25023603
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25023603