Biases in Routine Influenza Surveillance Indicators Used to Monitor Infection Incidence and Recommendations for Improvement.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Monitoring how the incidence of influenza infections changes over time is important for quantifying the transmission dynamics and clinical severity of influenza. Infection incidence is difficult to measure directly, and hence, other quantities which are more amenable to surveillance are used to monitor trends in infection levels, with the implicit assumption that they correlate with infection incidence.

Methods

Here, we demonstrate, through mathematical reasoning using fundamental mathematical principles, the relationship between the incidence of influenza infections and three commonly reported surveillance indicators: (1) the rate per unit time of influenza-like illness reported through sentinel healthcare sites, (2) the rate per unit time of laboratory-confirmed

SUBMITTER: Eales O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11608885 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature