title: The new school absentees reporting system for pandemic influenza A/H1N1 2009 infection in Japan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the new Japanese School Absentees Reporting System for Infectious Disease (SARSID) for pandemic influenza A/H1N1 2009 infection in comparison with the National epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Disease (NESID).
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data of 53,223 students (97.7%) in Takamatsu city Japan. Data regarding school absentees in SARSID was compared with that in NESID from Oct 13, 2009 to Jan 12, 2010.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Similar trends were observed both in SARSID and NESID. However, the epidemic trend for influenza in SARSID was thought to be more sensitive than that in NESID.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The epidemic trend for influenza among school-aged children could be easily and rapidly assessed by SARSID compared to NESID. SARSID might be useful for detecting the epidemic trend of influenza.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan. suzue@med.kagawa-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzue
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hoshikawa
authors.forename: Shuzo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nishihara
authors.forename: Ai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fujikawa
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyatake
authors.forename: Noriko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sakano
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoda
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.forename: Tomohiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hirao
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / Q000502:physiology*; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology*; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D058873:Pandemics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058028:Research Report; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*