Development of a department of defense regional viral respiratory surveillance program.
A continuous viral respiratory surveillance program was established throughout the U.S. Department of Defense beneficiary population living in Europe with a few specimens coming from the Middle East. This program provided influenza rapid antigen test kits, specimen collection kits, detailed instructions, and a questionnaire. Training on specimen collection and testing was provided to health care providers and lab staff. We received 1875 patient specimens (39% active duty, 13% adult beneficiary, and 48% pediatric beneficiary) collected from 36 medical treatment facilities in 10 European and Middle Eastern countries over a 52-week period. Nine hundred and twenty-two questionnaires were received. The greatest activity of viral respiratory infections occurred between weeks 7 to 13. We found the sensitivity of rapid antigen testing compared poorly to both viral culture and PCR; however, the information provided by the rapid testing was utilized locally for guiding patient treatment. Additionally, although 91% of the active duty population received the influenza vaccine, we calculated the vaccine efficacy to be 52%.
Kallstrom
George
G
Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Department of Pathology and Area Laboratory Services, Landstuhl, Germany CMR 402, APO AE 09180.
Bryce
Louise
L
Koenig
Michael
M
Kosha
Sandra
S
Dick
Wendy
W
Aldous
Wade
W
D000328:Adult; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D005060:Europe; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008877:Middle East; D008889:Military Personnel; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011159:Population Surveillance; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013048:Specimen Handling; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D055815:Young Adult
D014765:Viral Vaccines