title: Description and evaluation of the 2009-2010 Pennsylvania Influenza Sentinel School Monitoring System.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We described and evaluated the 2009-2010 Pennsylvania Influenza Sentinel School Monitoring System, a voluntary sentinel network of schools that report data on school absenteeism and visits to the school nurse for influenza-like illness (ILI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Participating schools provided daily absenteeism and ILI data on a weekly basis through an online survey. We used participation and weekly response rates to determine acceptability, timeliness, and simplicity. We assessed representativeness by comparing participating schools with nonparticipating schools. We compared monitoring system data with statewide reports of laboratory-confirmed influenza.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 3244 Pennsylvania public schools, 367 (11%) enrolled in the system. On average, 79% of enrolled schools completed the survey each week. Although the peak week of elevated absenteeism coincided with the peak of statewide laboratory-confirmed influenza cases, the correlation between absenteeism and state data was nonsignificant (correlation coefficient = 0.10; P = .56). Trends in ILI correlated significantly with state data (correlation coefficient = 0.67; P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The school-based sentinel system is a simple, acceptable, reliable device for tracking absenteeism and ILI in schools. Further analyses are necessary to determine the comparative value of this system and other influenza surveillance systems.
authors.affiliation: Mississippi State Department of Health, Jackson, MS 39215-1700, USA. Vanessa.Short@msdh.state.ms.us
authors.forename: Vanessa L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Short
authors.forename: Chandra K
authors.initials: CK
authors.lastname: Marriott
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ostroff
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Waller
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010414:Pennsylvania; D012572:School Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance