Abstract
Sentinel surveillance of acute hospitalisations in response to infectious disease emergencies such as the 2009 influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic is well described, but recognition of its potential to supplement routine public health surveillance and provide scalability for emergency responses has been limited. We summarise the achievements of two national paediatric hospital surveillance networks relevant to vaccine programmes and emerging infectious diseases in Canada (Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program Active; IMPACT from 1991) and Australia (Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance; PAEDS from 2007) and discuss opportunities and challenges in applying their model to other contexts. Both networks were established to enhance capacity to measure vaccine preventable disease burden, vaccine programme impact, and safety, with their scope occasionally being increased with emerging infectious diseases’ surveillance. Their active surveillance has increased data accuracy and utility for syndromic conditions (e.g. encephalitis), pathogen-specific diseases (e.g. pertussis, rotavirus, influenza), and adverse events following immunisation (e.g. febrile seizure), enabled correlation of biological specimens with clinical context and supported responses to emerging infections (e.g. pandemic influenza, parechovirus, COVID-19). The demonstrated long-term value of continuous, rather than incident-related, operation of these networks in strengthening routine surveillance, bridging research gaps, and providing scalable public health response, supports their applicability to other countries.
Highlights
The essential role of hospital-based sentinel surveillance in identifying emerging infections and measuring the incidence of severe disease was highlighted by Thomson and Nicoll in a 2010 editorial in Eurosurveillance referring to surveillance activities in Europe during the 2009 influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic [1]
We summarise the achievements of two national paediatric hospital surveillance networks relevant to vaccine programmes and emerging infectious diseases in Canada (Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program Active; IMPACT from 1991) and Australia (Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance; PAEDS from 2007) and discuss opportunities and challenges in applying their model to other contexts
They argued that given demands on clinicians in disease outbreaks, sentinel hospital-based surveillance needed to be ongoing, allowing it to be augmented, rather than established de novo, in times of crisis [1]
Summary
The essential role of hospital-based sentinel surveillance in identifying emerging infections and measuring the incidence of severe disease was highlighted by Thomson and Nicoll in a 2010 editorial in Eurosurveillance referring to surveillance activities in Europe during the 2009 influenza A(H1N1)pdm pandemic [1] They argued that given demands on clinicians in disease outbreaks, sentinel hospital-based surveillance needed to be ongoing, allowing it to be augmented, rather than established de novo, in times of crisis [1]. This article analyses the contributions of two active, paediatric hospital-based sentinel networks that, since their inception, have played wide-ranging roles in public health surveillance: the Canadian Immunization Monitoring Program, Active (IMPACT) established in 1991, and the Australian Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) network established in 2007.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
