Pan-Respiratory Disease Surveillance in Southeast Asia: Past, Present and Future

ABSTRACT

The Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) was established by WHO in 1952 to conduct surveillance for influenza to inform strain selection for seasonal vaccines and to monitor for influenza pandemics. In 2016 WHO initiated a pilot project to add RSV to influenza surveillance platforms;this was disrupted by the SARS CoV-2 pandemic, and SARS CoV-2 was the first pathogen to be incorporated into influenza sentinel surveillance on a wide scale. This resulted in a "GISRS-plus" surveillance network for influenza and SARS CoV-2 that is now being standardized by WHO. In the wake of the SARS CoV-2 pandemic, there is global interest and funding to support pan-respiratory disease surveillance, which could result in expanding influenza/SARS CoV-2 surveillance platforms to include other pathogens and enhancing event- and indicator-based surveillance. Challenges with expanding sentinel surveillance include overburdening sentinel surveillance systems, reduced number of samples collected and loss of data quality for influenza and SARS CoV-2;thus, other types of surveillance for respiratory diseases might also be considered. This talk describes CDC-supported influenza surveillance platforms in Southeast Asia and recent successes and challenges in adding SARS CoV-2 to this surveillance. It discusses potential risks and benefits to GISRS-plus surveillance created by including other pathogens. Finally, it discusses decision-making steps on which methods to use for collecting data on respiratory viruses.Copyright © 2023