Self-Swabbing for Virological Confirmation of Influenza-Like Illness Among an Internet-Based Cohort in the UK During the 2014-2015 Flu Season: Pilot Study.
Self-Swabbing for Virological Confirmation of Influenza-Like Illness Among an Internet-Based Cohort in the UK During the 2014-2015 Flu Season: Pilot Study.
复制标题
DOI：
10.2196/jmir.9084
复制
发表时间：
2018-03-01
影响因子：
7.4
通讯作者：
Edmunds WJ
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Wenham C;Gray ER;Keane CE;Donati M;Paolotti D;Pebody R;Fragaszy E;McKendry RA;Edmunds WJ
基于实验室病毒感染确认的常规流感监测往往无法估计社区流感样疾病的真正负担，因为流感样疾病患者往往不去看卫生专业人员就能控制自己的症状。基于互联网的监测可以通过以最小的延迟测量人群的症状和健康行为来补充这种传统的监测。Flusurvey是英国最大的流感监测众包平台，收集6000多名自愿参与者的常规数据，并提供流感流行的实时估计。然而，对这种监测方法的一种批评是，它只能评估ILI，而不能评估病毒学证实的流感。我们设计了一项试点研究，看看是否可行，要求来自Flusurvey平台的个人执行自拭任务，并评估他们是否能够收集具有适当病毒含量的样本，以在实验室中检测流感病毒。向试点研究参与者发送了病毒学拭子试剂盒，然后他们通过Flusurvey平台监测他们在流感季节（2014-2015年）的ILI症状。如果他们报告了ILI，则要求他们进行自我拭子，并将拭子送回英国公共卫生实验室进行多重呼吸道病毒聚合酶链反应检测。在研究开始时共分发了700个棉签包；其中66名参与者符合ILI的定义，并被要求返回样本。在实验室共收到51份样本，其中18份经检测呈病毒性感染原因阳性（35%）。这证明了在在线队列研究中应用自我拭子进行病毒学实验室检测是可能的。该试验没有足够的数据来验证Flusurvey监测是否准确地反映了社区的流感感染情况，但强调了该方法的可行性。自我拭子检测可以扩展到更大规模的在线监测活动，例如在大流行的初始阶段，以了解社区传播或更好地评估季节间活动。
Routine influenza surveillance, based on laboratory confirmation of viral infection, often fails to estimate the true burden of influenza-like illness (ILI) in the community because those with ILI often manage their own symptoms without visiting a health professional. Internet-based surveillance can complement this traditional surveillance by measuring symptoms and health behavior of a population with minimal time delay. Flusurvey, the UK’s largest crowd-sourced platform for surveillance of influenza, collects routine data on more than 6000 voluntary participants and offers real-time estimates of ILI circulation. However, one criticism of this method of surveillance is that it is only able to assess ILI, rather than virologically confirmed influenza. We designed a pilot study to see if it was feasible to ask individuals from the Flusurvey platform to perform a self-swabbing task and to assess whether they were able to collect samples with a suitable viral content to detect an influenza virus in the laboratory. Virological swabbing kits were sent to pilot study participants, who then monitored their ILI symptoms over the influenza season (2014-2015) through the Flusurvey platform. If they reported ILI, they were asked to undertake self-swabbing and return the swabs to a Public Health England laboratory for multiplex respiratory virus polymerase chain reaction testing. A total of 700 swab kits were distributed at the start of the study; from these, 66 participants met the definition for ILI and were asked to return samples. In all, 51 samples were received in the laboratory, 18 of which tested positive for a viral cause of ILI (35%). This demonstrated proof of concept that it is possible to apply self-swabbing for virological laboratory testing to an online cohort study. This pilot does not have significant numbers to validate whether Flusurvey surveillance accurately reflects influenza infection in the community, but highlights that the methodology is feasible. Self-swabbing could be expanded to larger online surveillance activities, such as during the initial stages of a pandemic, to understand community transmission or to better assess interseasonal activity.
登录
查看更多内容
影响因子：
5.2
作者：
Briand S;Mounts A;Chamberland M
通讯作者：
Chamberland M
影响因子：
3.7
作者：
Brooks-Pollock E;Tilston N;Edmunds WJ;Eames KT
通讯作者：
Eames KT
影响因子：
4.2
作者：
Cooper, D. L.;Smith, G. E.;Zambon, M.
通讯作者：
Zambon, M.
影响因子：
15.8
作者：
Brownstein JS;Freifeld CC;Reis BY;Mandl KD
通讯作者：
Mandl KD
影响因子：
4.5
作者：
Cantarelli, Pietro;Debin, Marion;Colizza, Vittoria
通讯作者：
Colizza, Vittoria