Performance of case definitions used for influenza surveillance among hospitalized patients in a rural area of India
Siddhivinayak Hirve, Mandeep Chadha, Pallavi Lele, Kathryn E Lafond, Avinash Deoshatwar, Somnath Sambhudas, Sanjay Juvekar, Anthony Mounts, Fatimah Dawood, Renu Lal & Akhilesh Mishra
Volume 90, Number 11, November 2012, 804-812
Table 1. Commonly used World Health Organization (WHO) case definitions for influenza surveillance
| Illness | Case definition |
|---|---|
| Influenza-like illness | Sudden-onset fever (> 38 °C) with cough or sore throat, in the absence of other diagnosesa |
| Severe acute respiratory illness | Cases aged ≥ 5 years should meet the case definition for ILI, require hospital admission and have shortness of breath and/or difficulty breathing. |
| Younger cases should meet the IMCI programme case definition for either pneumonia or severe pneumonia. The definitions are as follows: – Pneumonia: cough or difficulty breathing plus a respiratory rate above 40 breaths per minute (if child aged 1–5 years) or 50 breaths per minute (if child aged 2–12 months). – Severe pneumonia (in children aged 2 months–5 years): requires hospital admission and has cough or difficulty breathing plus any of six general danger signs: inability to drink or breastfeed, vomiting of everything, convulsions, lethargy or unconsciousness, chest in-drawing and/or stridor in a calm child. |
|
| Acute respiratory illnessb | Sudden onset, clinician’s judgment that the illness is the result of infection, and at least one of four respiratory symptoms (cough, sore throat, shortness of breath and/or nasal discharge) |
| Febrile acute respiratory illness | Meets ARI definition and has fever |
ARI, acute respiratory illness; IMCI, Integrated Management of Childhood Illness; ILI, influenza-like illness.
a Fever to be measured and not just based on history of fever or feverishness.
b The definition shown is that commonly used in the WHO European Region. WHO’s global ARI definition is identical to the case definition for ILI.