Table 3.
Overview of the comparative framework of influenza surveillance systems in Australia, China and Malaysia
| 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Unpublished |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 Biologically /laboratory-confirmed outbreaks in close settings | Unpublished | |||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 |
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
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