Salt Lake Valley Health Department uses syndromic surveillance to monitor influenza-like illness (ILI) activity as part of a comprehensive influenza surveillance program that includes pathogen-specific surveillance, sentinel surveillance, school absenteeism and pneumonia, and influenza mortality. During the 2009 spring and fall waves of novel H1N1 influenza, sentinel surveillance became increasingly burdensome for both community clinics and Salt Lake Valley Health Department, and an accurate, more efficient method for ILI surveillance was needed. One study found that syndromic surveillance performed, as well as a sentinel provider system in detecting an influenza outbreak and syndromic surveillance is currently used to monitor regional ILI in the United States.
Objective
The objective of this study is to compare the performance of syndromic surveillance with the United States Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet), for the
detection of ILI during the fall 2009 wave of H1N1 influenza in Salt Lake County.