Influenza-like illness

• SAN DIEGO, Nov. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN), a global leader in DNA sequencing and array-based technologies, announced today the launch of the Global Health Access Initiative to support access to pathogen sequencing tools for public health in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
• "We know that enabling countries to perform pathogen sequencing locally strengthens health systems, enables better preparedness, and empowers countries to manage their priority health threats," said Vanessa Moeder, head of Global Health at Illumina.
• In the Illumina global team's experience, Moeder says, the countries or regions whose public health preparedness would most benefit from genomics often lack the resources to sustainably implement it.
• The equitable access program developed and operationalized by Illumina will allow many low- and middle-income nations to participate in the future of genomics across public health and preparedness."

• We wanted to know which of these methods was the most reliable during the first two years of the pandemic.
• The gold standard surveillance was the Office for National Statistics (ONS) COVID survey.
• This data tracked the ONS estimates very closely, though the reported numbers were usually only about 45% of the ONS data.
• The Zoe app also tracked the ONS survey estimates closely and was a good estimate of whether infections were rising or falling.
• For COVID, the question was can wastewater testing indicate how much infection is present in the population?
• In our analysis, we found that counts in wastewater were moderately correlated with the prevalence of COVID in the population.

Useful additional insights

• Even so, the other approaches provided useful additional insights.
• NHS 111 call and website data provided useful information early in the pandemic, before other surveillance methods were established.
• Although wastewater surveillance did little to increase our understanding of the course of the pandemic in England, this surveillance method may be useful in countries that don’t have easy access to human testing.

• The Resource Center is designed to share relevant information and data insights regarding 911 calls associated with COVID-19, influenza-like illness, and RSV.
• We are seeing a rise in 911 calls connected to severe flu and respiratory illnesses, said Dr. Brent Myers, Chief Medical Officer for ESO.
• The data for the Public Health Resource Center comes from the ESO Data Collaborative consisting of more than 2,000 EMS agencies across the United States.
• ESO (ESO Solutions, Inc.) is dedicated to improving community health and safety through the power of data.

• Data derived from a broad range of seasonal and pandemic influenza studies, including an oral presentation of influenza risk factors, will be shared.
• "At CSL Seqirus, vaccine innovation is in our DNA, which is reflected in our strong presence at OPTIONS XI," said S. Raja Rajaram, M.D., Head of Global Medical Strategy, CSL Seqirus.
• Cost-Effectiveness of Quadrivalent Adjuvanted Influenza Vaccine with MF59 Versus a Standard-Dose Quadrivalent Influenza Vaccines in Spain.
• Today, CSL including our three businesses, CSL Behring, CSL Seqirus and CSL Vifor provides lifesaving products to patients in more than 100 countries and employs 30,000 people.