Epidemiology and Surveillance
Weekly Influenza Updates
Australian Influenza Surveillance
The Australian Influenza Report is compiled from a number of data sources, including laboratory-confirmed notifications to NNDSS, sentinel influenza-like illness reporting from General Practitioners and Emergency Departments, workplace absenteeism, and laboratory testing. A more in-depth end of season report is also published in
Communicable Diseases Intelligence.
Daily Updates – cases, hospitalisations and deaths
Daily update bulletins track confirmed cases and known hospitalisations and deaths associated with the pandemic (H1N1) influenza.
WHO Weekly Epidemiological Records
Current and past international
data and intelligence compiled by the World Health Organisation.
Case Definitions
During the PROTECT phase, the clinical definition for an acute respiratory illness (ARI) is: Fever (38 degrees C or well documented history) with cough and/or sore throat.
If the medical practitioner has assessed that there is pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in the local community (community transmission*) then anyone with ARI is considered to have pandemic (H1N1) 2009.
In areas where there is no community transmission* then the medical practitioner should undertake a laboratory test to confirm pandemic (H1N1) 2009 infection.
* Community transmission is defined as person-to-person transmission, outside household or health care settings, with no epidemiological link to a probable or confirmed case.
Read also
Advice for the Health Sector in the PROTECT phase.
Public Health Unit Guidelines
8 July 2009: CDNA pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza infection: ‘Protect Phase’ Guidelines for Australian Public Health Units: The focus of the PROTECT phase is on identifying the people who are most vulnerable for severe disease and to provide medical care and interventions to reduce the incidence of poor outcomes. Information for health care providers on the clinical management of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza cases is described in the
Protect Phase Annex to the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza.
