Use of the moving epidemic method (MEM) to assess national surveillance data for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in the Netherlands, 2005 to 2017.

ABSTRACT: BackgroundTo control respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes acute respiratory infections, data and methods to assess its epidemiology are important.AimWe sought to describe RSV seasonality, affected age groups and RSV-type distribution over 12 consecutive seasons in the Netherlands, as well as to validate the moving epidemic method (MEM) for monitoring RSV epidemics.MethodsWe used 2005-17 laboratory surveillance data and sentinel data. For RSV seasonality evaluation, epidemic thresholds (i) at 1.2% of the cumulative number of RSV-positive patients per season and (ii) at 20 detections per week (for laboratory data) were employed. We also assessed MEM thresholds.ResultsIn laboratory data RSV was reported 25,491 times (no denominator). In sentinel data 5.6% (767/13,577) of specimens

SUBMITTER: Vos LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6530251 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature