Community surveillance of acute respiratory infections in Wales: preliminary findings

Although the majority of acute respiratory infection data comes from diagnostic testing of patients in secondary care, detection of influenza viruses and other acute respiratory infections in the community is increasingly important. Surveillance of influenza in the community has been ongoing in Wales for more than 20 years, and since 2005/06, virology surveillance has been a vital component.

Surveillance information for influenza-like illness (ILI) in the community in Wales is collected through the Welsh Sentinel GP Surveillance Scheme, which covers a total population of 363,059 across 42 primary care practices. The primary aims of the ILI sentinel GP surveillance scheme are to monitor the proportions of patients in the community presenting to their GP with ILI symptoms and to monitor community circulation of influenza viruses in Wales.

The information and samples submitted through the sentinel scheme has shown the widespread early circulation of influenza B during the 2012–13 influenza season,1 and also more recently demonstrates that Mycoplasma pneumoniae circulates in the community at a greater level than previously thought.2 Respiratory pathogen surveillance beyond influenza in the community has demonstrated that the clinical presentation of many of the respiratory infections can be very similar to influenza, even though most sentinel clinicians seem to exercise a conservative approach when sampling ILI patients.