Sneezes vs. Wheezes: Syndrome Definitions for Influenza-like Illness

During influenza season, the Boston Public Health Commission uses syndromic surveillance to monitor Emergency Department visits for chief complaints indicative of influenza-like illness (ILI). We created three syndrome definitions for ILI to capture variable presentations of disease, and compared the trends with Boston pneumonia and influenza mortality data, and onset dates for reported cases of influenza.

Objective

To evaluate the impact of different syndrome definitions for ILI by comparing weekly trends with other data sources during the 2005-2006 influenza season in Boston.