Influenza surveillance program

About the program

The influenza surveillance program monitors influenza activity and severity in the community.

Australian Influenza Surveillance Reports (AISR)

We publish AISRs every fortnight during the influenza season, typically between May and October. We may publish influenza activity updates outside of the seasonal period.

Data sources

The reports present data from several sources, including: 

• laboratory-confirmed notifications to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS)  

• influenza-associated hospitalisations to the Influenza Complications Alert Network (FluCAN)   

• influenza-like illness (ILI) reported from general practitioners through the Australian Sentinel Practices Research Network (ASPREN) 

• community-reported ILI from FluTracking and Healthdirect 

• sentinel laboratory testing results. 

Case definition

State and territory health departments use the Influenza (laboratory confirmed) – Surveillance case definition to decide whether to notify us of a case.

We updated this definition with effect from 1 January 2022. See our technical supplement for an overview of the changes and their impact on how data will be presented in future reports.

Data considerations

The information in AISR reports relies on the surveillance sources available to us. As access to sources can vary throughout seasons, our data considerations reports outline any relevant issues, as needed.

Influenza vaccine efficacy, effectiveness and impact explained

There are 3 terms used to describe how well a vaccine works in an influenza season:

1. vaccine efficacy
2. vaccine effectiveness
3. vaccine impact.

The influenza vaccine efficacy document explains each of these terms as well as information specific to influenza vaccines.

Annual influenza reports

In our journal, Communicable Diseases Intelligence, we publish:

• National Influenza Surveillance Scheme (NISS) annual reports – a more in-depth end-of-season report.

We also publish an annually updated NNDSS influenza public dataset on our website.

State and territory surveillance reports

For more on current influenza activity at the jurisdictional level, see:

• Australian Capital Territory – ACT influenza reports
• New South Wales – NSW influenza surveillance reports
• Queensland – Qld influenza surveillance reporting
• South Australia – Weekly epidemiological summary (influenza section)
• Tasmania – fluTAS reports
• Victoria – VIDRL influenza surveillance reports
• Western Australia – Virus WAtch.

Learn more

Learn more about communicable diseases surveillance.

We also maintain the Australian Health Management Plan for Pandemic Influenza.  The plan outlines Australia’s strategy to manage an influenza pandemic and minimise its impact on the health of Australians and our health system.

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