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Table 3 Overview of the comparative framework of influenza surveillance systems in Australia, China and Malaysia

From: Comparison of influenza surveillance systems in Australia, China, Malaysia and expert recommendations for influenza control

 Surveillance sub-system

 Outcome

Australia

China

Malaysia

  

Department of Health

Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Ministry of Health

1. Non-medically attended community surveillance

1.1. ARI/ILI cases and/or incidence rates

Web-survey (Info.flutracking.Net) & medical hotline (Healthdirect)

None

None

1.2. Proportion of ARI/ILI cases seeking care

None

None

2. Virological surveillance

2.1. ARI / ILI specimens for virus typing & subtyping

Sentinel labs & 2 NIC

Sentinel labs (NISN) & 1 NIC

2 NIC

2.2. ARI / ILI specimens for virus genome sequencing

1 WHO CC and H5 lab

1 WHO CC and H5 lab

None

2.3. ARI / ILI specimens for antiviral drug resistance

3. Community surveillance

3.1. Notified biologically/laboratory-confirmed cases

Sentinel labs, Mandatory disease notification (NNDSS)

Mandatory disease notification (NIDRS)

None

4. Outbreak surveillance

4.1. ARI/ILI outbreaks in close settings

Outbreak monitoring in Australian states

Outbreaks in close settings

(CPHEMIS)

Unpublished

4.2. Biologically /laboratory-confirmed outbreaks in close settings

Unpublished

5. Primary care syndromic surveillance

5.1. ARI/ILI GP visits and/or incidence rates

Sentinel GPs (ASPREN)

None

ILI sentinel clinics

5.2. Biologically/ laboratory-confirmed GP visits and/or incidence rates

None

5.3. Influenza-associated excess GP visits

None

None

None

5.4. Influenza-associated excess work loss cases

None

None

None

6. Hospital syndromic surveillance

6.1. ILI or biologically/laboratory-confirmed emergency department visits

ILI EDs (PHREDSS some states only - NSW)

ILI sentinel emergency departments (NISN)

None

6.2. SARI/ILI hospital admissions

SARI sentinel hospitals (FluCAN & APSU)

SARI sentinel hospitals scheme

SARI sentinel hospitals

6.3. Biologically/ laboratory-confirmed hospital admissions

6.4. Influenza-associated excess hospital admissions

None

None

None

6.5 Biologically/ laboratory-confirmed ICU admissions

SARI sentinel hospitals (FluCAN & APSU)

SARI sentinel hospitals system

SARI sentinel hospitals

7. Mortality surveillance

7.1 Diagnosed or biologically/laboratory-confirmed influenza deaths

Mandatory disease notification (NNDSS)

Mandatory disease notification (NIDRS)

None

7.2. Influenza-associated excess deaths

Influenza & pneumonia (some states only - NSW)

None

None

  1. None = there are no surveillance tools covering this outcome; unpublished = these outcomes are covered by surveillance tools but the data are not published in the weekly or annual reports
  2. APSU Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit, ARI Acute Respiratory Infection, ASPREN Australian Sentinel Practices Research Network, CPHEMIS China Public Health Emergency Management Information System, ED Emergency Department, FluCAN The Influenza Complications Alert Network, GP General Practitioner, ICU Intensive Care Unit, ILI Influenza-Like Illness, NIC National Influenza Centre, NIDRS National Infectious Disease Reporting System, NISN National Influenza Surveillance Network, NNDSS National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, NSW New South Wales, PHREDSS Public Health Rapid, Emergency, Disease and Syndromic Surveillance, SARI Severe Acute Respiratory Infection, WHO CC World Health Organization Collaborating Centre