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Evaluation of self-swabbing coupled with a telephone health helpline as an adjunct tool for surveillance of influenza viruses in Ontario.

Abstract：

BACKGROUND:Calls to a telephone health helpline (THHL) have been previously evaluated for the ability to monitor specific syndromes, such as fever and influenza-like-illness or gastrointestinal illness. This method of surveillance has been shown to be highly correlated with traditional surveillance methods, and to have potential for early detection of community-based illness. Self-sampling, or having a person take his/her own nasal swab, has also proven successful as a useful method for obtaining a specimen, which may be used for respiratory virus detection. METHODS:This study describes a self-swabbing surveillance system mediated by a nurse-led THHL in Ontario whereby syndromic surveillance concepts are used to recruit and monitor participants with influenza-like illness. Once recruited, participants collect a nasal specimen obtained by self-swabbing and submit for testing and laboratory confirmation. Enumeration of weekly case counts was used to evaluate the timeliness of the self-swabbing surveillance system through comparison to other respiratory virus and influenza surveillance systems in Ontario. The operational efficiency of the system was also evaluated. RESULTS:The mean and median number of days between the day that a participant called the THHL, to the day a package was received at the laboratory for testing were approximately 10.4 and 8.6 days, respectively. The time between self-swab collection and package reception was 4.9 days on average, with a median of 4 days. The self-swabbing surveillance system adequately captured the 2014 influenza B season in a timely manner when compared to other Ontario-based sources of influenza surveillance data from the same year; however, the emergence of influenza B was not detected any earlier than with these other surveillance systems. Influenza A surveillance was also evaluated. Using the THHL self-swabbing system, a peak in the number of cases for influenza A was observed approximately one week after or during the same week as that reported by the other surveillance systems. CONCLUSION:This one-year pilot study suggests that the THHL self-swabbing surveillance system has significant potential as an adjunct tool for the surveillance of influenza viruses in Ontario. Recommendations for improving system efficacy are discussed.

journal_name

BMC Public Health

journal_title

BMC public health

authors

McGolrick D,Belanger P,Richardson H,Moore K,Maier A,Majury A

doi

10.1186/s12889-016-3674-9

subject

Has Abstract

pub_date

2016-09-27 00:00:00

pages

1017

issue

issn

1471-2458

pii

10.1186/s12889-016-3674-9

journal_volume

pub_type

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Evaluation of self-swabbing coupled with a telephone health helpline as an adjunct tool for surveillance of influenza viruses in Ontario.