Enhancing Respiratory Infection Surveillance On the Arizona-Sonora Border—Bids Program Sentinel Surveillance Data

Introduction: In the Arizona border region, epidemiologic data combined with clinical data for respiratory conditions is limited. This project sought to monitor infecting respiratory pathogens among hospitalized patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) and BIDS sentinel site patients with viral respiratory conditions in Pima County, AZ during the 2010-2011 flu season. Methods: Two datasets were identified: (1) hospitalized SARI patients, and (2) virologic data from patients presenting with respiratory infections. SARI surveillance in Arizona was piloted in four acute care hospitals in 2010 through the Border Infectious Disease Surveillance (BIDS) program. A separate sentinel site provided virologic respiratory data on a weekly basis to BIDS. Results: A total of 76 cases were captured in SARI surveillance. Among these cases, 13% (n=10) were positive for influenza, and 9% (n=7) were positive for RSV. Patients who were 65 years and older comprised the largest age group (47%). Among 1385 positive viral results in the BIDS sentinel site patient dataset, influenza, RSV, and common cold viruses had the highest incidence; with rates of 27%, 27%, and 26% respectively. The age group with the highest proportion of RSV incidence was < 2 years old (40%); while that with the highest proportion of influenza was 25-49 years old (60%). From the SARI dataset, sensitivity of the rapid flu test was 13% and influenza vaccine was associated with a lower rate of influenza, although not statistically significant (OR=0.44; 95% CI=0.10, 1.83). Conclusion: Respiratory infection surveillance can be used for the development of public health strategies for infectious disease prevention.