scholarly journals Seasonal influenza surveillance and vaccine effectiveness at a time of co-circulating COVID-19: Oxford-Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) and Public Health England (PHE) protocol for winter 2020/21 (Preprint)

10.2196/24341 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon de Lusignan ◽  
Jamie Lopez Bernal ◽  
Rachel Byford ◽  
Gayatri Amirthalingam ◽  
Fillipa Ferreira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Seasonal Influenza ◽  
Vaccine Effectiveness ◽  
Influenza Surveillance

scholarly journals Emergence of a Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19): Protocol for Extending Surveillance Used by the Royal College of General Practitioners Research and Surveillance Centre and Public Health England (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon de Lusignan ◽  
Jamie Lopez Bernal ◽  
Maria Zambon ◽  
Oluwafunmi Akinyemi ◽  
Gayatri Amirthalingam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
General Practice ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Medical Records ◽  
Influenza Surveillance ◽  
General Practices ◽  
New Codes ◽  
Containment Policy ◽  
Tract Infections

BACKGROUND The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) and Public Health England (PHE) have successfully worked together on the surveillance of influenza and other infectious diseases for over 50 years, including three previous pandemics. With the emergence of the international outbreak of the coronavirus infection (COVID-19), a UK national approach to containment has been established to test people suspected of exposure to COVID-19. At the same time and separately, the RCGP RSC’s surveillance has been extended to monitor the temporal and geographical distribution of COVID-19 infection in the community as well as assess the effectiveness of the containment strategy. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is the surveillance of COVID-19 in both asymptomatic populations and ambulatory cases with respiratory infections to ascertain both the rate and pattern of COVID-19 spread and to assess the effectiveness of the containment policy. METHODS The RCGP RSC, a network of over 500 general practices in England, extract pseudonymized data weekly. This extended surveillance comprises of five components: (1) Recording in medical records of anyone suspected to have or who has been exposed to COVID-19. Computerized medical records suppliers have within a week of request created new codes to support this. (2) Extension of current virological surveillance and testing people with influenza-like illness or lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI)—with the caveat that people suspected to have or who have been exposed to COVID-19 should be referred to the national containment pathway and not seen in primary care. (3) Serology sample collection across all age groups. This will be an extra blood sample taken from people who are attending their general practice for a scheduled blood test. The 100 general practices currently undertaking annual influenza virology surveillance will be involved in the extended virological and serological surveillance. (4) Collecting convalescent serum samples. (5) Data curation. We have the opportunity to escalate the data extraction to twice weekly if needed. Swabs and sera will be analyzed in PHE reference laboratories. RESULTS General practice clinical system providers have introduced an emergency new set of clinical codes to support COVID-19 surveillance. Additionally, practices participating in current virology surveillance are now taking samples for COVID-19 surveillance from low-risk patients presenting with LRTIs. Within the first 2 weeks of setup of this surveillance, we have identified 3 cases: 1 through the new coding system, the other 2 through the extended virology sampling. CONCLUSIONS We have rapidly converted the established national RCGP RSC influenza surveillance system into one that can test the effectiveness of the COVID-19 containment policy. The extended surveillance has already seen the use of new codes with 3 cases reported. Rapid sharing of this protocol should enable scientific critique and shared learning. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT DERR1-10.2196/18606

scholarly journals Seasonal influenza surveillance and vaccine effectiveness at a time of co-circulating COVID-19: Oxford-Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) and Public Health England (PHE) protocol for winter 2020/21 (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon de Lusignan ◽  
Jamie Jamie Lopez Bernal ◽  
Rachel Byford ◽  
Gayatri Amirthalingam ◽  
Fillipa Ferreira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Vaccine Uptake ◽  
Influenza Surveillance ◽  
Secure Networks ◽  
General Practices

BACKGROUND The Oxford-Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) and Public Health England (PHE) are commencing their 54th season of collaboration at a time when coronavirus 2019 infections (COVID-19) are likely to be co-circulating with usual winter infections. OBJECTIVE To conduct surveillance of influenza, other monitored respiratory conditions, and report vaccine uptake and effectiveness using nationally representative surveillance data extracted from primary care computerised medical records (CMR) systems. Practices also collect virology and serology specimens and participate in trials and other interventional research. METHODS The RCGP RSC network comprises over 1,700 general practices in England and Wales. We extract pseudonymised data twice weekly and are migrating to daily extracts. 1. We collect pseudonymised routine coded clinical data for the surveillance of monitored as well as unexpected conditions; vaccine exposure and adverse events of interest (AEIs), and approved research study outcomes. 2. We provide dashboards to give practices feedback about levels of care and data quality, compared to other network practices. We focus on collecting data about influenza-like-illness (ILI), upper and lower respiratory infections (URTI and LRTI) and suspected coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19). 3. Approximately 300 practices, will participate in the 2020/21 in virology and serology surveillance, this will include responsive surveillance and long term follow up of previous COVID-19 infections. 4. Member practices can recruit volunteer patients to trials, including early interventions to improve COVID-19 outcomes and point of care testing. 5. The legal basis for our surveillance with PHE is Regulation 3 of The Health Service (Control of Patient Information) Regulations 2002; other studies require appropriate ethical approval. RESULTS The RCGP RSC network has tripled in size, there were previously 100 virology and 500 practices overall, we now have 322 and 1,724 respectively. The Oxford RCGP Clinical Informatics Digital Hub (ORCHID) secure networks enable the daily analysis of the extended network, currently 1,076 practices are uploaded. We are implementing a central swab distribution system to patients self-swabbing at home, in addition to in-practice sampling. We have migrated to use the systematised nomenclature of medicine clinical terms (SNOMED CT). Throughout spring and summer the network has continued to collect specimens in preparedness for the winter, or any second wave of COVID-19 cases. We have collected 5,404 swabs and detected 623 cases of COVID-19 through extended virological sampling and 19,341 samples collected for serology. This shows our preparedness for the winter season. CONCLUSIONS The COVID-19 has been associated with a groundswell of general practices joining our network. It has also created a permissive environment in which we have developed the capacity and capability of the national primary care surveillance systems and our unique public health institute, Royal College and University collaboration.

scholarly journals Emergence of a Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19): Protocol for Extending Surveillance Used by the Royal College of General Practitioners Research and Surveillance Centre and Public Health England

10.2196/18606 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. e18606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon de Lusignan ◽  
Jamie Lopez Bernal ◽  
Maria Zambon ◽  
Oluwafunmi Akinyemi ◽  
Gayatri Amirthalingam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
General Practice ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Medical Records ◽  
Influenza Surveillance ◽  
General Practices ◽  
New Codes ◽  
Containment Policy ◽  
Tract Infections

Background The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Research and Surveillance Centre (RSC) and Public Health England (PHE) have successfully worked together on the surveillance of influenza and other infectious diseases for over 50 years, including three previous pandemics. With the emergence of the international outbreak of the coronavirus infection (COVID-19), a UK national approach to containment has been established to test people suspected of exposure to COVID-19. At the same time and separately, the RCGP RSC’s surveillance has been extended to monitor the temporal and geographical distribution of COVID-19 infection in the community as well as assess the effectiveness of the containment strategy. Objectives The aims of this study are to surveil COVID-19 in both asymptomatic populations and ambulatory cases with respiratory infections, ascertain both the rate and pattern of COVID-19 spread, and assess the effectiveness of the containment policy. Methods The RCGP RSC, a network of over 500 general practices in England, extract pseudonymized data weekly. This extended surveillance comprises of five components: (1) Recording in medical records of anyone suspected to have or who has been exposed to COVID-19. Computerized medical records suppliers have within a week of request created new codes to support this. (2) Extension of current virological surveillance and testing people with influenza-like illness or lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI)—with the caveat that people suspected to have or who have been exposed to COVID-19 should be referred to the national containment pathway and not seen in primary care. (3) Serology sample collection across all age groups. This will be an extra blood sample taken from people who are attending their general practice for a scheduled blood test. The 100 general practices currently undertaking annual influenza virology surveillance will be involved in the extended virological and serological surveillance. (4) Collecting convalescent serum samples. (5) Data curation. We have the opportunity to escalate the data extraction to twice weekly if needed. Swabs and sera will be analyzed in PHE reference laboratories. Results General practice clinical system providers have introduced an emergency new set of clinical codes to support COVID-19 surveillance. Additionally, practices participating in current virology surveillance are now taking samples for COVID-19 surveillance from low-risk patients presenting with LRTIs. Within the first 2 weeks of setup of this surveillance, we have identified 3 cases: 1 through the new coding system, the other 2 through the extended virology sampling. Conclusions We have rapidly converted the established national RCGP RSC influenza surveillance system into one that can test the effectiveness of the COVID-19 containment policy. The extended surveillance has already seen the use of new codes with 3 cases reported. Rapid sharing of this protocol should enable scientific critique and shared learning. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/18606

scholarly journals A Five-Year Study of Influenza in Families Joint Public Health Laboratory Service/Royal College of General Practitioners Working Group

1981 ◽  
Vol 87 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. G. Mann ◽  
M. S. Pereira ◽  
J. W. G. Smith ◽  
R. J. C. Hart ◽  
W. O. Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Virus Isolation ◽  
Collaborative Study ◽  
Influenza Viruses ◽  
Public Health Laboratory ◽  
Laboratory Service ◽  
Before And After

SummaryA five year collaborative study of influenza in volunteer families from 1973–78 covered a period in which there were outbreaks every year but no major epidemics of influenza. Volunteers over the age of 15 years were bled before and after each of the five winters, and virus isolation was attempted from as many as possible when they reported episodes of illness. Children under 15 in the volunteer families were also swabbed when they were ill. Although most families experienced one or more attacks by influenza viruses, there was little transmission within families.

scholarly journals Seasonal Influenza Vaccination and Recommendation: The Difference between General Practitioners and Public Health Workers in China

Vaccines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongguo Rong ◽  
Xiaozhen Lai ◽  
Xiaochen Ma ◽  
Zhiyuan Hou ◽  
Shunping Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Influenza Vaccine ◽  
Influenza Vaccination ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Seasonal Influenza ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Vaccine Uptake ◽  
Knowledge And Attitudes ◽  
Public Health Workers

Seasonal influenza vaccination for healthcare workers (HCWs) is critical to the protection of HCWs and their patients. This study examined whether the separation of public health workers and general practitioners could affect the influenza vaccine uptake and recommendation behaviors among HCWs in China. A survey was conducted from August to October 2019, and HCWs from 10 provinces in China were recruited. A self-administered and anonymous questionnaire was used to assess HCWs’ demographic information, knowledge, and attitudes toward influenza vaccination, as well as vaccine uptake and recommendation behaviors. The primary outcome was HCWs’ vaccination and recommendation status of seasonal influenza vaccine. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to identify the influence factors of influenza vaccine uptake and recommendation among HCWs. Of the 1159 HCWs in this study, 25.3% were vaccinated against influenza in the previous season. “No need to get vaccinated” was the primary reason for both unvaccinated public health workers and general practitioners. Multivariate logistic regression showed that public health workers were more likely to get vaccinated against influenza (OR = 2.20, 95% CI 1.59–3.05) and recommend influenza vaccination to children (OR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.57–2.80) and the elderly (OR = 1.69, 95% CI 1.26–2.25) than general practitioners. Besides, the knowledge and perceived risk of influenza can give rise to HCWs’ vaccination and recommendation behaviors, and HCWs who got vaccinated in the past year were more likely to recommend it to children and the elderly in their work. The influenza vaccine coverage and recommendation among HCWs are still relatively low in China, especially for general practitioners. Further efforts are needed to improve the knowledge and attitudes toward influenza and influenza vaccination among HCWs, and coherent training on immunization for both public health workers and general practitioners might be effective in the face of separated public health and clinical services in China.

scholarly journals Impact of Public Health Interventions on Seasonal Influenza Activity During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Korea

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyunju Lee ◽  
Heeyoung Lee ◽  
Kyoung-Ho Song ◽  
Eu Suk Kim ◽  
Jeong Su Park ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Seasonal Influenza ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Influenza Surveillance ◽  
Influenza B ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
National Response ◽  
Influenza Activity ◽  
High Level ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was introduced in Korea early with a large outbreak in mid-February. We reviewed the public health interventions used during the COVID-19 outbreak and describe the impact on seasonal influenza activity in Korea. Methods National response strategies, public health interventions and daily COVID-19–confirmed cases in Korea were reviewed during the pandemic. National influenza surveillance data were compared between 7 sequential seasons. Characteristics of each season, including rate of influenza-like illness (ILI), duration of epidemic, date of termination of epidemic, distribution of influenza virus strain, and hospitalization, were analyzed. Results After various public health interventions including enforced public education on hand hygiene, cough etiquette, staying at home with respiratory symptoms, universal mask use in public places, refrain from nonessential social activities, and school closures the duration of the influenza epidemic in 2019/2020 decreased by 6–12 weeks and the influenza activity peak rated 49.8 ILIs/1000 visits compared to 71.9–86.2 ILIs/1000 visits in previous seasons. During the period of enforced social distancing from weeks 9–17 of 2020, influenza hospitalization cases were 11.9–26.9-fold lower compared with previous seasons. During the 2019/2020 season, influenza B accounted for only 4%, in contrast to previous seasons in which influenza B accounted for 26.6–54.9% of all cases. Conclusions Efforts to activate a high-level national response not only led to a decrease in COVID-19 but also a substantial decrease in seasonal influenza activity. Interventions applied to control COVID-19 may serve as useful strategies for prevention and control of influenza in upcoming seasons.

A Multicriteria Spatiotemporal System for Influenza Epidemic Surveillance

2021 ◽  
pp. 452-479
Author(s):  
Fatima-Zohra Younsi ◽  
Djamila Hamdadou ◽  
Salem Chakhar
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Seasonal Influenza ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Ranking Method ◽  
Influenza Surveillance ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Promethee Ii ◽  
Public Health Decision ◽  
Health Decision

Influenza has been a growing concern for the public health decision makers/policy makers. Indeed, they are in need of a real geo-making tool for monitoring and surveillance. The chapter aims to introduce a novel spatiotemporal decision system based on multicriteria ranking method, information geographic system (GIS), and SEIRSW system for public health. The later was designed, implemented, and validated in previous research for influenza risk assessment. The authors highlight the use of PROMETHEE II ranking method of multi-criteria decision analysis in GIS that incorporates various factors to monitor and identify potential high-risk areas of seasonal influenza and disease mapping. Factors related to the risk of seasonal influenza are obtained from simulation system and constitute the input values of PROMETHEE II ranking method for the 26 communes of the city of Oran, Algeria. The proposed system has demonstrated analytical capabilities in targeting high-risk spots and influenza surveillance monitoring system and it can help public health policy makers prioritize in their response goals and evaluate control strategies.

scholarly journals The COVID-19 and lifestyle nexus: settling the debate

2021 ◽  
pp. 175797592110184
Author(s):  
Sathyanarayanan Doraiswamy ◽  
Sohaila Cheema ◽  
Ravinder Mamtani
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Communicable Diseases ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Recent Debate ◽  
Lifestyle Disease

A recent debate that has gained our attention is that of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) being referred to as a lifestyle disease by the Royal College of General Practitioners (in the title of an online event) for which they later apologized and withdrew the reference. In this commentary, we demystify diseases related to ‘lifestyle’ and put this in the context of the age-old public health way of classifying diseases as communicable and non-communicable (NCDs). Evidence indicates that unhealthy lifestyles, in addition to causing NCDs, can also result in reduced immunity and/or cause injury to organs predisposing individuals to diseases, and their severity, traditionally defined as ‘communicable’ such as COVID-19. COVID-19 has demonstrated the nexus between communicable and NCDs as never before in no uncertain terms. Two important messages that have emerged from the pandemic are: (1) there is close proximity of communicable diseases to NCDs; and (2) individual personal hygiene-related lifestyles can influence the occurrence, severity and prevention of communicable diseases such as COVID-19.

A Multicriteria Spatiotemporal System for Influenza Epidemic Surveillance

2019 ◽  
pp. 176-202
Author(s):  
Fatima-Zohra Younsi ◽  
Djamila Hamdadou ◽  
Salem Chakhar
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Seasonal Influenza ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Ranking Method ◽  
Influenza Surveillance ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Promethee Ii ◽  
Public Health Decision ◽  
Health Decision

Influenza has been a growing concern for the public health decision makers/policy makers. Indeed, they are in need of a real geo-making tool for monitoring and surveillance. The chapter aims to introduce a novel spatiotemporal decision system based on multicriteria ranking method, information geographic system (GIS), and SEIRSW system for public health. The later was designed, implemented, and validated in previous research for influenza risk assessment. The authors highlight the use of PROMETHEE II ranking method of multi-criteria decision analysis in GIS that incorporates various factors to monitor and identify potential high-risk areas of seasonal influenza and disease mapping. Factors related to the risk of seasonal influenza are obtained from simulation system and constitute the input values of PROMETHEE II ranking method for the 26 communes of the city of Oran, Algeria. The proposed system has demonstrated analytical capabilities in targeting high-risk spots and influenza surveillance monitoring system and it can help public health policy makers prioritize in their response goals and evaluate control strategies.

scholarly journals Concordance of interim and final estimates of influenza vaccine effectiveness: a systematic review

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vivian K Leung ◽  
Benjamin J Cowling ◽  
Shuo Feng ◽  
Sheena G Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Influenza Vaccine ◽  
Influenza A ◽  
Seasonal Influenza ◽  
Vaccine Effectiveness ◽  
World Health ◽  
Absolute Difference ◽  
Influenza Surveillance ◽  
Influenza B ◽  
Surveillance And Response ◽  
Influenza A H1n1

The World Health Organization's Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System meets twice a year to generate a recommendation for the composition of the seasonal influenza vaccine. Interim vaccine effectiveness (VE) estimates provide a preliminary indication of influenza vaccine performance during the season and may be useful for decision making. We reviewed 17 pairs of studies reporting 33 pairs of interim and final estimates using the test-negative design to evaluate whether interim estimates can reliably predict final estimates. We examined features of the study design that may be correlated with interim estimates being substantially different from their final estimates and identified differences related to change in study period and concomitant changes in sample size, proportion vaccinated and proportion of cases. An absolute difference of no more than 10% between interim and final estimates was found for 18 of 33 reported pairs of estimates, including six of 12 pairs reporting VE against any influenza, six of 10 for influenza A(H1N1)pdm09, four of seven for influenza A(H3N2) and two of four for influenza B. While we identified inconsistencies in the methods, the similarities between interim and final estimates support the utility of generating and disseminating preliminary estimates of VE while virus circulation is ongoing.

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