RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access

Assessing the use of hosp absence (ILA) for enhancin a ke Recognition that earlier detection of infectious diseases Organization (WHO) review of influenza surveillance Drumright et al. BMC Infectious Diseases (2015) 15:110 DOI 10.1186/s12879-015-0789-zLondon, UK Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleat the population level is critical for reducing morbidity and mortality has led to the extensive use of syndromic surveillance, i.e. monitoring a collection of symptoms purported to identify a particular condition. While the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic (pH1N1) demonstrated the critical value of such surveillance systems, it also following pH1N1 underscored critical gaps in assessing influenza annually, including an inability for most coun-tries to quantify burden of disease and distinguish inten-sity between seasons, and non-standardized, and therefore non-comparable, approaches nationally and internation-ally [2]. Similarly, problems related to managing a surge in patients with influenza in hospitals have been highlighted as a weakness in preparedness in Europe [3]. As timing and severity of influenza changes annually, delays in informa-tion reaching healthcare settings could result in a lack of readiness, especially related to hospital workforce staffing