Department of Family Practice, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
Influenza Other Respir Viruses. 2011 Sep;5(5):351-6. doi: 10.1111/j.1750-2659.2011.00239.x. Epub 2011 Mar 7.
The diagnosis and treatment of patients with the A(H1N1) pandemic flu caused some serious burden for general practitioners (GPs) in the summer and autumn of 2009.
The aim of this study was to track the incidence of influenza and influenza-like illness (ILI) in Belgium and to describe the characteristics of the affected patients.
In July 2009, the Belgian online influenza surveillance system (BOISS) was set up to monitor the spread of influenza and ILI. Registrations were made by 93 GPs from all 10 Belgian provinces who participated at least 1 week during the first 12 months of the registration. Only patients who met the WHO criteria for flu were recorded.
In total, 1254 patients (53% men) with influenza or ILI were included. Mainly younger persons were affected: 43% was under the age of 20 years. A risk factor for influenza-related complications was determined in 19% of cases, mainly patients with chronic respiratory problems. A treatment with oseltamivir or zanamivir was prescribed in 13%, and 3% of the patients was admitted to a hospital. The time of the peak incidence (44th week) and the magnitude (623 cases per week per 100,000 inhabitants) corresponded with the figures of the existing paper-based registration network. The small sample size and possible reporting biases may have influenced the findings of the study.
The BOISS provides a good alternative to conduct surveillance activities for influenza and ILI in Belgium. It provides complementary information regarding ILI compared to the existing data capturing.
2009 年夏秋季甲型 H1N1 大流行流感的诊断和治疗给全科医生（GP）带来了一些严重的负担。
本研究旨在追踪比利时流感和流感样疾病（ILI）的发病率，并描述受影响患者的特征。
2009 年 7 月，建立了比利时在线流感监测系统（BOISS），以监测流感和 ILI 的传播。来自比利时 10 个省的 93 名全科医生参与了监测，他们至少在注册的前 12 个月中的 1 周内参与了监测。只有符合世界卫生组织（WHO）流感标准的患者才会被记录。
共纳入 1254 例流感或 ILI 患者（53%为男性）。主要为年轻人受影响：43%的患者年龄在 20 岁以下。19%的病例存在流感相关并发症的风险因素，主要为患有慢性呼吸道问题的患者。13%的患者接受了奥司他韦或扎那米韦治疗，3%的患者住院治疗。发病高峰时间（第 44 周）和发病规模（每 10 万人每周 623 例）与基于纸质的现有登记网络的数字相对应。小样本量和可能存在的报告偏倚可能影响了研究结果。
BOISS 为在比利时开展流感和 ILI 监测活动提供了一种很好的替代方法。与现有的数据捕获相比，它提供了关于 ILI 的补充信息。
