The Southern Nevada Health District Office of Epidemiology conducts surveillance for influenza-like illness and monitors laboratory–confirmed cases of flu.

The influenza-like illness surveillance program is part of a program developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to provide a regional and national view of influenza-like illness activity.

Objectives

• Identifying the beginning and end of each flu season, so the community can plan and respond accordingly.
• Monitoring the level of influenza-like illness in the community to determine the extent of the flu season and variances in influenza-like illness by age.

What is influenza-like illness?

The term influenza-like illness is used to describe people seeking medical treatment for symptoms consistent with flu infection:

• A fever over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, accompanied by a cough or a sore throat.

Why not monitor how many people have the flu?

The only way to absolutely determine whether a person has the flu is through a laboratory test of a culture taken by a doctor.

Since most people do not seek medical treatment for the flu and cultures are only collected from a fraction of the people who see a doctor, monitoring for symptoms consistent with flu infection provides a more-accurate representation of flu virus activity.

What role does physician testing play in monitoring the flu season?

The few cultures collected by doctors allow public health laboratories to confirm a diagnosis of influenza and determine which flu strain has infected the patient. In turn, public health agencies can gauge which strains of flu are circulating and whether they match the strains included in the flu vaccine.

Visit the Office of Epidemiology’s Influenza Surveillance Program web page for detailed information, including surveillance reports.