Abstract
The 2009 influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 pandemic highlighted the need for improved scientific knowledge to support better pandemic preparedness and seasonal influenza control. The Southern Hemisphere Influenza and Vaccine Effectiveness Research and Surveillance (SHIVERS) project, a 5-year (2012–2016) multiagency and multidisciplinary collaboration, aimed to measure disease burden, epidemiology, aetiology, risk factors, immunology, effectiveness of vaccination and other prevention strategies for influenza and other respiratory infectious diseases of public health importance. Two active, prospective, population-based surveillance systems were established for monitoring influenza and other respiratory pathogens among those hospitalized patients with acute respiratory illness and those enrolled patients seeking consultations at sentinel general practices. In 2015, a sero-epidemiological study will use a sample of patients from the same practices. These data will provide a full picture of the disease burden and risk factors from asymptomatic infections to severe hospitalized disease and deaths and related economic burden. The results during the first 2 years (2012–2013) provided scientific evidence to (a) support a change to NZ's vaccination policy for young children due to high influenza hospitalizations in these children; (b) contribute to the revision of the World Health Organization's case definition for severe acute respiratory illness for global influenza surveillance; and (c) contribute in part to vaccine strain selection using vaccine effectiveness assessment in the prevention of influenza-related consultations and hospitalizations. In summary, SHIVERS provides valuable international platforms for supporting seasonal influenza control and pandemic preparedness, and responding to other emerging/endemic respiratory-related infections.
Highlights
The 2009 influenza A(H1N1)pdm[09] pandemic provided a test of global preparedness to assess the epidemiology of a pandemic and to respond appropriately and rapidly
Soon after the pandemic virus emerged in April 2009 in Mexico and spread globally, public health leaders, anxious to understand the full breadth of influenza epidemiology, turned their attention to countries in southern temperate areas with an upcoming influenza season
Such a system would help monitor the epidemiology of new strains of seasonal influenza and the effectiveness of vaccination, both for the Southern Hemisphere and for upcoming Northern Hemisphere seasons
Summary
The 2009 influenza A(H1N1)pdm[09] pandemic provided a test of global preparedness to assess the epidemiology of a pandemic and to respond appropriately and rapidly. Soon after the pandemic virus emerged in April 2009 in Mexico and spread globally, public health leaders, anxious to understand the full breadth of influenza epidemiology, turned their attention to countries in southern temperate areas with an upcoming influenza season. This demonstrated the absence of an established real-time system in the Southern Hemisphere to provide more complete surveillance of an influenza pandemic. In October 2011, led by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), a multiagency and multidisciplinary project ‘Southern Hemisphere Influenza and Vaccine Effectiveness Research and Surveillance’ (SHIVERS) was established for a 5-year period (2012–2016) as a result of the award received from US-CDC. We describe lessons learned from the first 2 years and planned future studies as well as international applications
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