Guidelines for surveillance of avian influenza
Primary and secondary healthcare sentinel systems, as well as molecular surveillance, have been strengthened during the COVID-19 pandemic to integrate different respiratory viruses e.g. monitoring influenza seasonal activity or the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants. These surveillance systems are equally useful for any other emerging respiratory virus. Additional details about integrated surveillance of respiratory viruses have been published in 2022 by ECDC in the guidance document, ‘Operational considerations for respiratory virus surveillance in Europe’. This document is also relevant for zoonotic influenza virus infections in humans including avian influenza. Severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) surveillance systems with integrated testing and virus subtyping are crucial tools for emerging respiratory viruses.
The timely characterisation of viruses and the sharing of sequence information remain crucial for the monitoring of virus evolution and virus vaccine development. Sharing of sequence data through the EpiFlu database of the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data (GISAID) or other EU sequence databases and virus isolates with WHO Collaborating Centres for Reference and Research on Influenza (WHO-CCRRIs) are important for public health assessment, improvement of diagnostics, and the development of candidate vaccines. Sharing of influenza viruses is done through the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS).
Information about cases and investigations should be shared, in line with One Health principles, between animal and public health authorities at different levels, and also with occupational safety and health authorities at the local level.
Reporting of human infections
Authorities can share information on human cases in the following platforms:
- Human infections with avian influenza viruses are notifiable under EU legislation within 24 hours through the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS), according to the regulation on serious cross-border threats to health (2022/2371).
- The International Health Regulations (IHR) notification system also requires notification, following the case definition for notification of human influenza caused by a new subtype under the IHR (2005).
- Preliminary information can also be shared with other EU countries through ECDC's European surveillance portal for infectious diseases (EpiPulse). EpiPulse also serves as a data collection system for event-based surveillance.
- Systematic data about the number of tested people, number of positive cases, as well as case-based data about avian influenza is collected at The European Surveillance System (TESSy) in a standardised format according to the EU case definition.