Role of fever clinics in influenza H1N1/A monitoring

Objective To explore the role of fever clinics in monitoring and controlling influenza H1N1/A. Methods Daily visits to the fever clinic of Beijing Friendship Hospital from 2004 to 2009 and confirmed influenza H1N1/A cases in 2009 were analyzed. Results The most clinic visits,25 882, were in 2009 during the five years from 2004 through 2009. The number usually peaked in January and August each year, averaging 2180 and 2001, respectively. In 2009, this peak was in November, when there were 6175 clinic visits. During the influenza epidemic period from May to December,2009, the number of clinic visits, influenza cases, influenza-like cases and the proportion of fever clinic visits were closely related to the number of confirmed influenza H1N1/A cases, with the Pearson correlation coefficients of 0.788 (P=0.020),0.834 (P=0.010), and 0.965 (P=0.000), respectively. Comparing with the influenza epidemic data in the first week of November,2008, the proportion of students increased to 45.3% in the corresponding period in 2009 from 36.5% in 2008 (2=12.613, P=0.006). Conclusion In Beijing Friendship Hospital, the peak of fever clinic visits is usually seen in January and August. Monitoring data on such aspects as clinic visits, influenza cases and the proportion of the two in a sentinel hospitals fever clinic may reflect the prevalence trends of influenza in the respective area.