Identifying onset of local influenza outbreaks: New Tool
Thursday, November 20, 2014 - 15:01
in Health & Medicine
Hospital epidemiologists and others responsible for public health decisions do not declare the start of flu season lightly. All the extra precautions cost time and money, so they do not want to declare flu season too early. For hospitals, there is a strong incentive to define a really clear period as flu season. Now, just in time for flu season, researchers have devised a simple yet accurate method for hospitals and public health departments to determine the onset of elevated influenza activity at the community level.