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Surveillance of respiratory pathogens and influenza-like illnesses in general practices - The Netherlands, winter 1997/98.
Bartelds, A.I.M., Heijnen, M.L.A., Dorigo-Zetsma, J.W., Wilbrink, B., Sprenger, M.J.W. Surveillance of respiratory pathogens and influenza-like illnesses in general practices - The Netherlands, winter 1997/98. Eurosurveillance: 1999, 4(7/8), p. 8184.
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The Netherlands Institute of Primary Health Care (NIVEL) has coordinated the activities of a sentinel surveillance network of 43 general practices since 1970. These practices care for 1% of the Dutch population, a sample representative of the national population in terms of age, sex, and degree of urbanisation (1). NIVEL uses data from the network to calculate the incidence of influenza-like illness each week during the winter season. At the request of NIVEL, the system has been enhanced since the winter of 1992-93 by the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu - RIVM, to include virus isolation and detection from nose/throat swabs obtained from patients with acute upper respiratory tract infections (ARI), of which on average influenza-like illness accounts for about 62%. This article presents the main findings of the surveillance of influenza-like illness and other ARI in general practice in the Netherlands in the winter of 1997/98, assesses the relationship between influenza virus isolation and influenza-like illness registration, and compares virus isolation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinovirus, and enterovirus.
The Netherlands Institute of Primary Health Care (NIVEL) has coordinated the activities of a sentinel surveillance network of 43 general practices since 1970. These practices care for 1% of the Dutch population, a sample representative of the national population in terms of age, sex, and degree of urbanisation (1). NIVEL uses data from the network to calculate the incidence of influenza-like illness each week during the winter season. At the request of NIVEL, the system has been enhanced since the winter of 1992-93 by the National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu - RIVM, to include virus isolation and detection from nose/throat swabs obtained from patients with acute upper respiratory tract infections (ARI), of which on average influenza-like illness accounts for about 62%. This article presents the main findings of the surveillance of influenza-like illness and other ARI in general practice in the Netherlands in the winter of 1997/98, assesses the relationship between influenza virus isolation and influenza-like illness registration, and compares virus isolation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), rhinovirus, and enterovirus.