INFLUENZA VIRUS SURVEILLANCE SUMMARY UPDATE

Week ending October 19, 2002-Week 42

Carina Blackmore, M.S. Vet. Med., Ph.D..

Florida Sentinel Physician Influenza Surveillance Network
The Florida Sentinel Physicians Influenza Surveillance program is underway for the 2002-2003 influenza season. We have 103 primary care physicians and other health care providers from 30 counties enrolled this year. Reporting packages have been sent out to all participants and laboratory supplies were mailed this week. As usual, county health department staff have been instrumental in getting the word out about the surveillance program in their respective communities. Thank you all for your hard work!!!  Influenza surveillance reports will be published weekly in the Epi Update. If you are interested in tracking the reports from providers in your county, please let me know and I will email you the data each week.

Influenza Virus Culture and PCR
Monitoring for influenza virus outbreaks is another important component of a comprehensive influenza surveillance program. To help us in this effort Dr Amy Smith at the Jacksonville lab has developed a PCR assay that can detect and distinguish influenza A and B. The purpose of the test is to provide a rapid diagnosis, important for the development of effective outbreak management strategies and especially when antiviral treatment is considered. The test will be offered, in conjunction with influenza virus isolation testing, by the Bureau of Laboratories in Jacksonville and Tampa. Kits with laboratory supplies for influenza testing are available and either lab can ship them to your county health departments upon request. The turnaround time for the PCR assay is approximately 2 days.

Influenza Outbreak Reporting
Suspected influenza outbreaks are reportable to the Bureau of Epidemiology. Information about influenza outbreaks around the state will be included in the weekly Epi Update influenza surveillance summaries. The Bureau of Epidemiology also reports influenza outbreaks to CDC.  Please email the reports to me at the following address: Carina_Blackmore@doh.state.fl.us

Influenza surveillance Results for Week Ending October 19 (week 42)
Surveillance results from week 42 indicate that influenza activity is still low nationwide. Influenza-like illness (ILI) was diagnosed in 1.1% of the patients visiting sentinel providers this week, which is lower than the national baseline of 1.9%. In Florida the proportion of patient visits due to ILI was 0.9%. The first outbreak for this season was reported from an institutional setting in Holmes County this week. The Influenza A (H1N1) outbreak affected approximately 30 people. Onset of illness ranged from October 7-21.