Key Objectives:
- Describe the benefits of non-influenza viral respiratory disease surveillance and the current surrounding challenges
- Describe and discuss innovative approaches and best practices in leveraging influenza surveillance systems for monitoring other viral respiratory disease
Brief Summary:
Public health departments utilize a variety of data sources to collect information related to influenza and influenza-associated illness. Common sources of these data include clinical reporting, laboratory testing in public health and commercial laboratories, syndromic surveillance, and mortality surveillance. Surveillance for other viral respiratory diseases is often less established, although advancement in molecular diagnostic techniques have now made it possible to identify a wider range of respiratory pathogens. Building upon current infrastructure for influenza surveillance provides public health with a unique opportunity to identify or monitor other circulating and emerging viral respiratory diseases of concern, even in resource constrained environments. During this roundtable session, public health partners will provide examples of how influenza surveillance systems have been leveraged to meet data needs for recent emerging viral respiratory threats (i.e. MERS, EV-D68) and establish surveillance in anticipation of new vaccine development (i.e. RSV). Information shared by state and local health departments from within influenza surveillance programs or other programs with similar experience will be compiled and distributed by the CSTE Influenza and Viral Respiratory Diseases Subcommittee to inform members of best practices for programs considering surveillance for non-influenza respiratory viruses.