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Source: http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091007/NEWS01/91007018
NC changing reporting of flu hospitalizations, deaths
Staff Reports ? October 7, 2009 09:53 AM
RALEIGH ? North Carolina is changing the way it reports flu deaths and hospitalizations in response to a new nationwide directive from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Starting this week, the state will report hospitalizations and deaths from all influenza-like illness, including both H1N1 and seasonal flu. It will no longer be reporting separately the number of hospitalizations and deaths among patients with lab-confirmed cases of H1N1 as it has been doing since April.
"The laboratory confirmed numbers underestimate the real number of cases,? State Epidemiologist Megan Davies said in a statement. ?While this reporting change will result in what seem to be larger numbers, it will give us a truer picture of the impact of flu in the state over the coming weeks and months.?
The North Carolina Division of Public Health continues to track emergency department visits and visits to designated healthcare providers for flu-like symptoms. Flu activity is also monitored by running laboratory tests on a sample of patients from across the state each week to determine which types of flu are circulating.
Davies said that this is bascially the same type of flu surveillance that the state and the country has used for years to track influenza, with the addition of flu-related hospitalizations and all flu deaths.
In previous years, only pediatric flu deaths were reported, but reporting of all flu-related deaths is now required by a temporary order from the state health director.
The reporting on influenza-associated deaths is based on reports from doctors and local health departments of people who died from an illness identified as influenza (either seasonal or pandemic) through medical testing.
The hospitalization numbers are based on electronic monitoring of the number of patients with influenza-like-illness (ILI) who are admitted to hospitals through emergency departments.
ILI is not the same as laboratory confirmed influenza. Patients who are identified as having ILI might have other diseases, so this number may overestimate the actual number of influenza hospitalizations, but is useful for monitoring trends.
NC changing reporting of flu hospitalizations, deaths
Staff Reports ? October 7, 2009 09:53 AM
RALEIGH ? North Carolina is changing the way it reports flu deaths and hospitalizations in response to a new nationwide directive from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Starting this week, the state will report hospitalizations and deaths from all influenza-like illness, including both H1N1 and seasonal flu. It will no longer be reporting separately the number of hospitalizations and deaths among patients with lab-confirmed cases of H1N1 as it has been doing since April.
"The laboratory confirmed numbers underestimate the real number of cases,? State Epidemiologist Megan Davies said in a statement. ?While this reporting change will result in what seem to be larger numbers, it will give us a truer picture of the impact of flu in the state over the coming weeks and months.?
The North Carolina Division of Public Health continues to track emergency department visits and visits to designated healthcare providers for flu-like symptoms. Flu activity is also monitored by running laboratory tests on a sample of patients from across the state each week to determine which types of flu are circulating.
Davies said that this is bascially the same type of flu surveillance that the state and the country has used for years to track influenza, with the addition of flu-related hospitalizations and all flu deaths.
In previous years, only pediatric flu deaths were reported, but reporting of all flu-related deaths is now required by a temporary order from the state health director.
The reporting on influenza-associated deaths is based on reports from doctors and local health departments of people who died from an illness identified as influenza (either seasonal or pandemic) through medical testing.
The hospitalization numbers are based on electronic monitoring of the number of patients with influenza-like-illness (ILI) who are admitted to hospitals through emergency departments.
ILI is not the same as laboratory confirmed influenza. Patients who are identified as having ILI might have other diseases, so this number may overestimate the actual number of influenza hospitalizations, but is useful for monitoring trends.