Flu Near You: Crowdsourcing influenza-like-illness reporting across the United States comparing the 2017–18 and 2018–19 influenza seasons

Background: The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that influenza sickened between 37.4 million and 42.9 million people in the United States during the 2018–19 influenza season. While vaccination remains one of the best defenses against it, early detection is crucial to halting its spread. Recognizing symptoms early can allow public health officials, and the communities they serve, to take steps to reduce transmission. Methods and materials: Flu Near You (FNY) is an online participatory disease surveillance system that allows volunteers in the United States to report their health information using a brief weekly survey. Participating in FNY is simple – individuals can enroll in the FNY system by signing up at www.flunearyou.org. Weekly reminders are sent to registered FNY users to report on their own symptoms and the symptoms of household members. Results: Here we summarize the results of self-reported symptoms during the 2017–18 influenza season to the 2018–19 influenza season, to determine any differences in symptom reporting and healthcare-seeking behavior observed between the two years. During the 2017–18 influenza season, 51.6% participants reported at least one symptom through FNY that was either self-reported or submitted on their behalf. Compared to the 2018–19 influenza season, 44.5% participants reported at least symptom through FNY. We also observed that 22.7% participants with at least one symptom sought medical attention during the 2017–18 influenza season, compared to 21.9% participants during the 2018–19 influenza season. Conclusion: We observe a decrease in symptom reporting during the 2018–19 influenza season to date, compared to the 2017–18 flu season. We also observed a decrease in participants experiencing symptoms who seek medical attention. Only 30% of FNY users who report ILI symptoms seek medical attention. Thus, FNY captures disease activity in populations not accounted for by official surveillance data. As a result FNY can be a valuable complementary surveillance system for assessing community-level disease trends. We hope to provide an opportunity for the public to engage directly, as well as continue to be the trusted source for community-level disease surveillance.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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