Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: PLoS ONE, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
The New School Absentees Reporting System for Pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 Infection in Japan
Takeshi Suzue<SUP>1</SUP><SUP>*</SUP>, Yoichi Hoshikawa<SUP>2</SUP>, Shuzo Nishihara<SUP>2</SUP>, Ai Fujikawa<SUP>3</SUP>, Nobuyuki Miyatake<SUP>4</SUP>, Noriko Sakano<SUP>4</SUP>, Takeshi Yoda<SUP>1</SUP>, Akira Yoshioka<SUP>1</SUP>, Tomohiro Hirao<SUP>1</SUP>
1 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan, 2 Department of Health and Welfare, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa Prefectural Government, Kagawa, Japan, 3 Takamatsu City Public Health Center, Kagawa, Japan, 4 Department of Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan
Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the new Japanese School Absentees Reporting System for Infectious Disease (SARSID) for pandemic influenza A/H1N1 2009 infection in comparison with the National epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Disease (NESID).
Methods
We used data of 53,223 students (97.7%) in Takamatsu city Japan. Data regarding school absentees in SARSID was compared with that in NESID from Oct 13, 2009 to Jan 12, 2010.
Results
Similar trends were observed both in SARSID and NESID. However, the epidemic trend for influenza in SARSID was thought to be more sensitive than that in NESID.
Conclusion
The epidemic trend for influenza among school-aged children could be easily and rapidly assessed by SARSID compared to NESID. SARSID might be useful for detecting the epidemic trend of influenza.
Citation: Suzue T, Hoshikawa Y, Nishihara S, Fujikawa A, Miyatake N, et al. (2012) The New School Absentees Reporting System for Pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 Infection in Japan. PLoS ONE 7(2): e30639. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030639
Editor: Gavin J. D. Smith, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore
Received: June 24, 2011; Accepted: December 20, 2011; Published: February 17, 2012
Copyright: ? 2012 Suzue et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This research was supported in part by a research grant from the Kagawa University fund of regional contribution. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No additional external funding was received for this study.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: suzue@med.kagawa-u.ac.jp
- ------Takeshi Suzue<SUP>1</SUP><SUP>*</SUP>, Yoichi Hoshikawa<SUP>2</SUP>, Shuzo Nishihara<SUP>2</SUP>, Ai Fujikawa<SUP>3</SUP>, Nobuyuki Miyatake<SUP>4</SUP>, Noriko Sakano<SUP>4</SUP>, Takeshi Yoda<SUP>1</SUP>, Akira Yoshioka<SUP>1</SUP>, Tomohiro Hirao<SUP>1</SUP>
1 Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan, 2 Department of Health and Welfare, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa Prefectural Government, Kagawa, Japan, 3 Takamatsu City Public Health Center, Kagawa, Japan, 4 Department of Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan
Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the new Japanese School Absentees Reporting System for Infectious Disease (SARSID) for pandemic influenza A/H1N1 2009 infection in comparison with the National epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Disease (NESID).
Methods
We used data of 53,223 students (97.7%) in Takamatsu city Japan. Data regarding school absentees in SARSID was compared with that in NESID from Oct 13, 2009 to Jan 12, 2010.
Results
Similar trends were observed both in SARSID and NESID. However, the epidemic trend for influenza in SARSID was thought to be more sensitive than that in NESID.
Conclusion
The epidemic trend for influenza among school-aged children could be easily and rapidly assessed by SARSID compared to NESID. SARSID might be useful for detecting the epidemic trend of influenza.
Citation: Suzue T, Hoshikawa Y, Nishihara S, Fujikawa A, Miyatake N, et al. (2012) The New School Absentees Reporting System for Pandemic Influenza A/H1N1 2009 Infection in Japan. PLoS ONE 7(2): e30639. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0030639
Editor: Gavin J. D. Smith, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore
Received: June 24, 2011; Accepted: December 20, 2011; Published: February 17, 2012
Copyright: ? 2012 Suzue et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This research was supported in part by a research grant from the Kagawa University fund of regional contribution. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. No additional external funding was received for this study.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: suzue@med.kagawa-u.ac.jp