Unique Danish Influenza Surveillance System
25 January 2011
To enhance surveillance for influenza-like illness (ILI) in Denmark, a year-round electronic reporting system was established in collaboration with Statens Serum Institut and the Danish Medical On-Call Service (DMOS). The system, which operates with topical and detailed data, is the first of its kind. A recently published paper describes the great significance of the Danish Emergency Service System during the 2009 pandemic
The surveillance of influenza-like illness (ILI) is a unique Danish system providing current and detailed situation analyses. The system allows on-call physicians to register patients with influenza-like illness electronically. The system was established in 2008 and is now part of the Sentinel System, which is a weekly report based on data aggregated over a full week from the GP sentinel surveillance. During the 2009 pandemic, the ILI System provided very useful information for the Danish Health Authorities’ situation analyses and risk communication.
The latest issue of Eurosurveillance, which is a special issue about the 2009 pandemic, presents a paper on The ILI Surveillance System and experiences from the 2009 pandemic:
Electronic real-time surveillance for influenza-like illness: experience from the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic in Denmark