Flutracking weekly online community survey of influenza-like illness: 2013 and 2014
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33321/cdi.2015.39.41Keywords:
influenza, surveillance, syndromic surveillance, influenza-like illness, survey, FlutrackingAbstract
Flutracking is a national online community influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance system that monitors weekly ILI activity and severity. This article reports on the 2013 and 2014 findings from Flutracking. From 2013 to 2014 there was a 14.0% increase in participants who completed at least 1 survey to 21,021 participants. By the end of the 2013 and 2014 seasons, respectively 59.7% and 59.1% of all participants had received the seasonal influenza vaccine. The 2013 Flutracking national ILI weekly incidence peaked in late August at 4.3% in the unvaccinated group, 1 week earlier than national counts of laboratory confirmed influenza. The 2014 Flutracking national ILI weekly incidence also peaked in late August at 4.7% in the unvaccinated group, in the same week as national counts of laboratory confirmed influenza. A lower percentage of Flutracking participants took 2 or more days off from work or normal duties in 2013 (peak level 1.6%) compared with 2014 (peak level 2.5%) and sought health advice in 2013 (peak level of 1.1%) compared with 2014 (peak of 1.6%). Flutracking ILI surveillance suggests that 2014 was a moderately more intense season than 2013 and similar to 2012. Commun Dis Intell 2015;39(3):E361–E368.
Downloads
References
Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Australian influenza surveillance report 2012. Accessed on 6 December 2012. Available from: http://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/cda-ozflu-no10-12.htm
Lambert SB, Faux CE, Grant KA, Williams SH, Bletchly C, Catton MG, et al. Influenza surveillance in Australia: we need to do more than count. Med J Aust 2010;193(1):43-45.
Dalton C, Durrheim D, Fejsa J, Francis L, Carlson S, d’Espaignet ET, et al. Flutracking: a weekly Australian community online survey of influenza-like illness in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Commun Dis Intell 2009;33(3):316–322.
Parrella A, Dalton CB, Pearce R, Litt JC, Stocks N. ASPREN surveillance system for influenza-like illness – A comparison with FluTracking and the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. Aust Fam Physician 2009;38(11):932–936.
Carlson SJ, Dalton CB, Tuyl FA, Durrheim DN, Fejsa J, Muscatello DJ, et al. Flutracking surveillance: comparing 2007 New South Wales results with laboratory confirmed influenza notifications. Commun Dis Intell 2009;33(3):323–327.
Carlson SJ, Dalton CB, Durrheim DN, Fejsa J. Online Flutracking survey of influenza-like illness during pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Australia. Emerg Infect Dis 2010;16(12):1960–1962.
Carlson SJ, Dalton CB, Butler MT, Fejsa J, Elvidge E, Durrheim DN. Flutracking weekly online community survey of influenza-like illness: 2011 and 2012. Commun Dis Intell 2013;37(4):E383–E406.
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian demographic statistics, Mar 2013. Cat. no. 3101.0. Accessed on 16 January 2014. Available from: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/allprimarymainfeatures/E5F0D40E5B61AC2BCA257C430016EAC6?opendocument
Dalton CB, Carlson SJ, Butler MT, Fejsa J, Elvidge E, Durrheim DN. Flutracking weekly online community survey of influenza-like illness annual report, 2010. Commun Dis Intell 2011;35(4):288–293.
Study challenges existence of ‘man flu’. ABC News. Accessed on 9 July 2015. Available from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-07/study-challenges-existence-of-man-flu/4674840
Australian Government Department of Health. Ozflu 2014. Accessed on 19 March 2015. Available from: http://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/cda-surveil-ozflu-flucurr.htm/$File/Australian-Influenza-Surveillance-Report.pdf
Fielding J. Seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness against medically-attended influenza in Victoria, 2014. Abstract: Communicable Disease Control Conference 2015. Accessed on 9 July 2015. Available from: http://www.phaa.net.au/documents/item/581
World Health Organisation. Review of the 2014 influenza season in the Southern Hemisphere. Accessed on 9 July 2015. Available from: http://www.who.int/wer/2014/wer8948.pdf?ua=1
Australian Government Department of Health. Australian influenza surveillance report 2013. Accessed on 23 January 2014. Available from: http://www1.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/cda-surveil-ozflu-flucurr.htm
McCallum L, Dalton C, Carlson S, Kelly H, D Durrheim. The impact of changes in healthcare-seeking behaviour and testing on influenza surveillance. Abstract: Communicable Disease Control Conference 2015. Accessed on 9 July 2015. Available from: http://www.phaa.net.au/documents/item/581
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2015 Communicable Diseases Intelligence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
