Research agenda on persistent and unpredictable threat of influenza and emerging respiratory infections: a public health necessity in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Mandil, Ahmed; Bresee, Joseph S.; Tageldin, Mohamed Awad; Azad, Talat Mokhtari; Khan, Wasiq

doi:10.26719/2016.22.7.430

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 2 publications

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“…Among the supplemental articles, of which 11 were included in this review, seven were from countries that had not previously published burden estimates. Additionally, the regional WHO offices in the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific regions also published specific supplements, in 2016 and 2018, respectively, for influenza disease burden estimates [ 40 , 41 ]. While the growing literature is encouraging, we hope to see continued efforts to pursue and publish consistent estimates of seasonal influenza burden, specifically from under-represented areas like the Eastern Mediterranean and South-East Asia regions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in published rates of influenza-associated hospitalizations: A systematic review, 2007-2018

Roguski¹,

Rolfes²,

Reich³

et al. 2020

Journal of Global Health

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Background Influenza burden estimates help provide evidence to support influenza prevention and control programs at local and international levels. Methods Through a systematic review, we aimed to identify all published articles estimating rates of influenza-associated hospitalizations, describe methods and data sources used, and identify regions of the world where estimates are still lacking. We evaluated study heterogeneity to determine if we could pool published rates to generate global estimates of influenza-associated hospitalization. Results We identified 98 published articles estimating influenza-associated hospitalization rates from 2007-2018. Most articles (65%) identified were from high-income countries, with 34 of those (53%) presenting estimates from the United States. While we identified fewer publications (18%) from low- and lower-middle-income countries, 50% of those were published from 2015-2018, suggesting an increase in publications from lower-income countries in recent years. Eighty percent (n = 78) used a multiplier approach. Regression modelling techniques were only used with data from upper-middle or high-income countries where hospital administrative data was available. We identified variability in the methods, case definitions, and data sources used, including 91 different age groups and 11 different categories of case definitions. Due to the high observed heterogeneity across articles ( I 2 >99%), we were unable to pool published estimates. Conclusions The variety of methods, data sources, and case definitions adapted locally suggests that the current literature cannot be synthesized to generate global estimates of influenza-associated hospitalization burden.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in published rates of influenza-associated hospitalizations: A systematic review, 2007-2018

Roguski¹,

Rolfes²,

Reich³

et al. 2020

Journal of Global Health

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A Smart Card-Based Electronic School Absenteeism System for Influenza-Like Illness Surveillance in Hong Kong: Design, Implementation, and Feasibility Assessment

Lau¹,

So²,

Xiao³

et al. 2017

JMIR Public Health Surveill

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BackgroundSchool-aged children have the highest incidence of respiratory virus infections each year, and transmission of respiratory viruses such as influenza virus can be a major concern in school settings. School absenteeism data have been employed as a component of influenza surveillance systems in some locations. Data timeliness and system acceptance remain as key determinants affecting the usefulness of a prospective surveillance system.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of implementing an electronic school absenteeism surveillance system using smart card–based technology for influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance among a representative network of local primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong.MethodsWe designed and implemented a surveillance system according to the Protocol for a Standardized information infrastructure for Pandemic and Emerging infectious disease Response (PROSPER). We employed an existing smart card–based education and school administration platform for data capture, customized the user interface, and used additional back end systems built for other downstream surveillance steps. We invited local schools to participate and collected absenteeism data by the implemented system. We compared temporal trend of the absenteeism data with data from existing community sentinel and laboratory surveillance data.ResultsWe designed and implemented an ILI surveillance system utilizing smart card–based attendance tracking approach for data capture. We implemented the surveillance system in a total of 107 schools (including 66 primary schools and 41 secondary schools), covering a total of 75,052 children. The system successfully captured information on absences for 2 consecutive academic years (2012-2013 and 2013-2014). The absenteeism data we collected from the system reflected ILI activity in the community, with an upsurge in disease activity detected up to 1 to 2 weeks preceding other existing surveillance systems.ConclusionsWe designed and implemented a novel smart card technology–based school absenteeism surveillance system. Our study demonstrated the feasibility of building a large-scale surveillance system riding on a routinely adopted data collection approach and the use of simple system enhancement to minimize workload implication and enhance system acceptability. Data from this system have potential value in supplementing existing sentinel influenza surveillance for situational awareness of influenza activity in the community.

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Research agenda on persistent and unpredictable threat of influenza and emerging respiratory infections: a public health necessity in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Cited by 2 publications

References 2 publications

Variability in published rates of influenza-associated hospitalizations: A systematic review, 2007-2018

Variability in published rates of influenza-associated hospitalizations: A systematic review, 2007-2018

A Smart Card-Based Electronic School Absenteeism System for Influenza-Like Illness Surveillance in Hong Kong: Design, Implementation, and Feasibility Assessment

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