In pre-pandemic times, when the flu spread every year following Christmas, it was the so-called Sentinel-System, with which pathogens and diseases have been observed. Part of this system comes together at the virology department at the Medical University of Vienna, says virologist Monika Redlberger-Fritz: “We have around 200 doctors throughout Austria who take nose and throat swabs from patients with respiratory infections and send them to us. We are analyzing whether this sample contains influenza.”
Correct question missing
In principle, all samples have also been screened for Sars-CoV-2 since March 2020, and there is one more analysis part, for which the Agency for Health and Food Security is responsible. The system as a whole is too small to be able to do comprehensive corona monitoring, according to the virologist. It would make sense to take a regular sample in nursing homes, for example, and analyze it in a targeted manner: “First there must be a good question, and then you can establish the right sentinel system.”
The problem: The question was not defined, so the system was not expanded to take over additional monitoring in the fall. The documentation of the hospital admissions is also incomplete, although it was expanded over the summer, like the complexity researcher Peter Klimek says: “At the moment, one hospital following the other is going online, but so far not all hospitals and not all federal states have been mapped. We are therefore still a long way from being able to rely solely on the data in the Covid register.”
A query to Health Austriaresponsible for the hospital register, shows: Out of 120 publicly funded hospitals, 70 are currently reporting information on Covid-associated cases in the register.
Autumn wave: Immune status is missing
Random tests, i.e. a defined group of people who can be tested regularly, have been required for some time. Combined with antibody tests and thus information regarding the immunity in the population, one might currently better assess how the autumn wave will go, says Peter Klimek. So far, however, no political decision has been made to have such tests carried out.
“Time to Learn Lessons”
With each fall, other respiratory diseases also become more common. According to the researcher, it is time to put infection monitoring on a broader footing: “Right now, when the situation with the current variants is not quite as challenging, would be the right time to learn the lessons we are planning for the next ones Be able to set up waves of infection better.
And the monitoring of all severe respiratory infections should be high on the list.” Ultimately, it is regarding keeping an eye on the overall burden on the health system – and learning from it in terms of prevention and care.
