Enhanced surveillance for serious complications of influenza in children: role of the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit.

Influenza contributes significantly to disease burden among children aged less than five years. Existing influenza surveillance systems do not provide detailed data on clinical presentation, management, vaccination status, risk factors and complications in hospitalised children, or link such data with laboratory results. Following a number of child deaths due to influenza in 2007, the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing approached the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit (APSU) to examine the feasibility of enhancing APSU surveillance to identify children hospitalised with severe complications of influenza.