Syndromic Surveillance

Syndromic surveillance involves monitoring patients who present with defined symptom patterns, such as influenza-like illness which is when a patient has a fever and cough, and the GP suspects the illness might be caused by a respiratory virus. Participating practices report these presentations in a standardised way, allowing ASPREN to track trends in respiratory illness over time.

These data provide an early signal of increasing activity in the community, often before laboratory-confirmed data are widely available. Syndromic surveillance is critical for identifying the start, peak, and duration of respiratory illness seasons, and for monitoring differences across regions and population groups.