Protocol for a winter sentinel surveillance program of notifiable respiratory viruses in Queensland

Abstract

Background With the reduction in access to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and changes in testing guidelines in Australia, a reduced number of people are seeking testing for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), limiting the opportunity to monitor disease transmission. Knowledge of community transmission of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses is essential to better predict subsequent surges in cases during the pandemic to alert health services, protect vulnerable populations and enhance public health measures. We describe a methodology for a testing-based sentinel surveillance program to monitor disease in the community for early signal detection of SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses. Methods/design A longitudinal active testing-based sentinel surveillance program for respiratory viruses (including SARS-CoV-2, influenza A, influenza B and Respiratory Syncytial Virus) will be implemented in some regions of Queensland. Adults will be eligible for enrolment if they are part of specific community groups at increased risk of exposure and have not had a COVID-19 infection in the last 13 weeks. Recruitment via workplaces will occur in-person, via email and through online advertisement. Asymptomatic participants will be tested via PCR for SARS-CoV-2 infection by weekly self-collected nasal swabs. In addition, symptomatic participants will be asked to seek SARS-CoV-2 and additional respiratory virus PCR testing at nominated COVID-19 testing sites. SARS-CoV-2 and respiratory virus prevalence data will be analysed weekly and at the end of the study period. Discussion Once implemented, this surveillance program will determine the weekly prevalence of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses in the broader community by testing a representative sample of adults, with an aim to detect early changes in the baseline positivity rate. This information is essential to define the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in the community in near-real time to inform public health control measures and prepare health services and other stakeholders for a rise in service demand.

Molecular Epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 Genome Sentinel Surveillance in Commercial COVID-19 Testing Sites Targeting Asymptomatic Individuals During Japan’s Seventh Epidemic Wave

“…Sentinel screening tests in asymptomatic populations are effective in preventing infection [19,20,39] . Their implementation, especially in the era of highly cryptic infections like Omicron-related variants, should be considered owing to their low facility burden.…”

“…Similar to other countries, Japan has been severely affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) pandemic. As of May 10, 2023, the Japanese National Epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Diseases (NESID) reported 33,793,429 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, with a low number of related deaths at 74,654 [1] .…”

“…This approach involves active testing, including genome sequencing, for all positive cases. Some countries have established testing-based sentinel surveillance programs, developed for rapid diagnosis and viral infection epidemics assessments [15][16][17] , including COVID-19 [18,19] . Commercially available COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Japan.…”

Estimating the incidence of COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus infection in three regions of Queensland, Australia, winter 2022: findings from a novel longitudinal testing-based sentinel surveillance programme

“…Previous studies have shown that while self-collected nasal swabs are not as accurate as clinician-collected swabs, the convenience outweighs the reduced sensitivity. [30][31][32][33] While this programme required fewer staffing resources than the previous door-knocking prevalence programme Open access conducted in Gold Coast, 24 significant staff time was required for the daily messaging, creation of personalised swab packs, dropping packs to workplaces, picking up swabs from workplaces and delivery to the laboratory, in addition to the data analysis and additional pressure on the laboratory staff. Funding was also required for the consumables used during the programme.…”

“…This longitudinal testing-based sentinel surveillance programme based on the protocol by Ginige et al 24 was designed to detect winter respiratory viruses notifiable under the Public Health Act 2005 (Queensland). 25 All participants were tested for SARS-CoV-2 and symptomatic participants were also tested for influenza A and B, and RSV.…”