Use of Ambulance Dispatch Calls for Surveillance of Severe Acute Respiratory Infections.

Monge, Susana; Duijster, Janneke; Kommer, Geert Jan; van de Kassteele, Jan; Donker, Gé A; Krafft, Thomas; Engelen, Paul; Valk, Jens P; de Waard, Jan; de Nooij, Jan; van der Hoek, Wim; van Asten, Liselotte

doi:10.3201/eid2601.181520

Use of Ambulance Dispatch Calls for Surveillance of Severe Acute Respiratory Infections.

Susana Monge, Janneke Duijster, Geert Jan Kommer, Jan van de Kassteele, Gé A Donker, Thomas Krafft, Paul Engelen, Jens P Valk, Jan de Waard, Jan de Nooij, Wim van der Hoek, Liselotte van Asten

Emerging Infectious Diseases · 2019-12-20 · Observational study

Read at publisher · PubMed

Abstract

Ambulance dispatches for respiratory syndromes reflect incidence of influenza-like illness in primary care. Associations are highest in children (15%-34% of respiratory calls attributable to influenza), out-of-office hours (9%), and highest urgency-level calls (9%-11%). Ambulance dispatches might be an additional source of data for severe influenza surveillance.