For the public




What is ASPREN?

ASPREN is a national network of general practices that help monitor respiratory illnesses such as influenza, COVID-19, and RSV. By collecting information from patients who visit their GP with symptoms, ASPREN provides an early picture of what is happening in the community—often before hospital data are available.

This information is used by health authorities to guide vaccination programs, prepare hospitals, and respond to emerging health threats.

Why was I swabbed?

If your GP told you your swab is part of ASPREN, you are contributing to a national public health program that helps monitor respiratory viruses in Australia.

Participation is voluntary and does not change your usual medical care.

Why does this matter?

The information collected through ASPREN doesn’t just sit in a database—it is actively used to support health decisions across Australia and around the world.

Your sample helps us:

  • Monitor when influenza season begins
    • This information is important for health planning – for example, for informing hospitals when to stop elective surgeries, so they can attend to the increase in patients being admitted with flu.
  • Track which strains are circulating.  This information helps the World Health Organisation to:
  • Decide which strains to put in the annual influenza vaccine; and
  • Monitor any changes to viruses that may impact human health – for example the emergence of strains that are not susceptible to the vaccine or antiviral treatment.
  • Understand who is most affected
    • Certain age groups or people with certain health conditions, such as asthma or heart disease, can be more or less affected by certain strains of flu.
    • Knowing this information allows federal and state health departments to figure out who needs vaccines most and make sure the vaccines are readily available to these people – for example, for free under the National Immunisation Program.
    • Primary health networks get messages out to healthcare providers (eg. GPs) making sure patients of these high-risk groups are being offered vaccines. 
  • Estimate how well vaccines are working

We do this by calculating real-world estimates of vaccine effectiveness for flu, COVID-19 and RSV. This includes identifying groups where the vaccine doesn’t work as well compared to others – for example, we detected low vaccine effectiveness in persons aged 65 years and above, which in turn, contributed to the development of enhanced influenza vaccines for the elderly in 2018.

  • Detect unusual or emerging viruses early

In late 2025, ASPREN data was used to inform health authorities about influenza A(H3N2) subclade K – otherwise known as the “Super K flu”.  This included who was being most affected (school aged children), how severe the strain was (less severe than other strains), symptom profile (higher rate of gastrointestinal symptoms) and how effective the vaccine was (moderately effective, despite a vaccine-mismatch).  The results were published in the Medical Journal of Australia to inform GPs on testing, treatment and vaccination.  You can read the article here [insert link here]

What happens to my information?

Your GP and the laboratory (SA Pathology) will have access to your identifiable information as part of your usual care. ASPREN receives de-identified summary information about your visit, which includes your date of birth, GP details including the date of your visit, your swab result, and surveillance survey information.  The surveillance survey collects information about:

  • your sex
  • your symptoms
  • when your symptoms started
  • if you have any existing medical conditions which could cause you to experience more severe disease as a result of contracting a respiratory infection
  • your respiratory pathogen immunisation history (i.e. flu, COVID-19 or RSV immunisations you’ve received)
  • any treatment received for your current illness from your GP (e.g. Antiviral prescription)
  • your Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person status
  • whether you are a healthcare worker.

Using the above information, ASPREN prepares further de-identified summary report to send to the Australian CDC, the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Reference and Research on Influenza (WHO-CCRRI) and state and territory health departments.  This summary report has your date of birth removed and is replaced by an age, and your GP details are also removed. 

In the event your sample is positive for influenza, SA Pathology will send your swab sample to the WHO-CCRRI for further testing.  This includes tests to see if it is susceptible to antiviral treatment and whether it reacts to the influenza vaccine.  In certain public health situations (e.g. an outbreak or pandemic), Australian public health laws allow health authorities to trace test results back to your GP and contact you if required. This process applies to all testing, including routine swabs.

 

 

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