TY - JOUR
T1 - Importance of routine public health influenza surveillance
T2 - Detection of an unusual W-shaped influenza morbidity curve
AU - Georgantopoulos, Peter
AU - Bergquist, Eleanor Peters
AU - Knaup, Richard C.
AU - Anthony, John R.
AU - Bailey, Thomas C.
AU - Williams, Michael P.
AU - Lawrence, Steven J.
PY - 2009/12
Y1 - 2009/12
N2 - Seasonal influenza causes excess morbidity and mortality at the extremes of age: It disproportionately affects the very young and the very old, typically resulting in "U"-shaped age-distributed curves. By means of a well-established public health department surveillance system using positive influenza tests submitted from sentinel sites, the authors generated annual influenza-specific morbidity curves over a 10-year period (1998-2008) for St. Louis County, Missouri. The authors detected an unusually high incidence of cases of medically attended test-positive influenza, particularly in young adults, during the 2007-2008 season, resulting in an unexpected "W"-shaped age-distributed morbidity curve that was distinctly unique in comparison with the prior 9 influenza seasons. Public health influenza surveillance programs are useful tools for detecting emerging epidemiologic trends that may have clinical importance.
AB - Seasonal influenza causes excess morbidity and mortality at the extremes of age: It disproportionately affects the very young and the very old, typically resulting in "U"-shaped age-distributed curves. By means of a well-established public health department surveillance system using positive influenza tests submitted from sentinel sites, the authors generated annual influenza-specific morbidity curves over a 10-year period (1998-2008) for St. Louis County, Missouri. The authors detected an unusually high incidence of cases of medically attended test-positive influenza, particularly in young adults, during the 2007-2008 season, resulting in an unexpected "W"-shaped age-distributed morbidity curve that was distinctly unique in comparison with the prior 9 influenza seasons. Public health influenza surveillance programs are useful tools for detecting emerging epidemiologic trends that may have clinical importance.
KW - Age groups
KW - Influenza, human
KW - Population surveillance
KW - Public health
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=71549171450&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/aje/kwp305
DO - 10.1093/aje/kwp305
M3 - Article
C2 - 19903724
AN - SCOPUS:71549171450
SN - 0002-9262
VL - 170
SP - 1533
EP - 1540
JO - American journal of epidemiology
JF - American journal of epidemiology
IS - 12
ER -