The experts heard today at the Infarmed meeting on the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic propose a surveillance system for respiratory infections that integrates the SARS-Cov-2 virus, the influenza virus and the respiratory syncytial virus.
“We will need to maintain vigilance (…) and be able to identify trends in evolution”, said Ana Paula Rodrigues, a specialist at the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, stressing that what is proposed is “to look in greater detail at respiratory infections , to be able to standardize what is observed”.
“As public health measures are eased, it will not be necessary to identify all cases of infection, as we do, testing strategies will change and gradually the focus of interest will shift to disease cases with impact. in morbidity, mortality and the response of health services”, he said.
Ana Paula Rodrigues also said that the system now proposed will allow greater optimization of resources and underlined the importance of this surveillance model, since there are “other respiratory agents of equal epidemic and seasonal potential”, such as the influenza virus and the syncytial virus. respiratory.
This surveillance system for acute respiratory infections will allow an integrated and uniform collection of clinical and laboratory data, allowing pre-selection of health units to “have a representative sample” of the population.
“Thus, we will have the potential capacity to monitor the incidence of the disease, at the same time as we monitor the flu and other agents of respiratory infection”, explained the official, in her intervention on “Surveillance in the recovery phase of the pandemic”.
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