Severe influenza surveillance in Europe

Following the influenza pandemic virus in 2009 a number of EU/EEA countries decided to introduce surveillance of severe disease and deaths due to influenza and this has continued in subsequent influenza seasons.
In 2011, a series of common objectives were developed and agreed among EU Member States and to further explore the options, a questionnaire on surveillance systems in use was sent to all of them. This document discusses some of the results from the questionnaire on influenza monitoring systems in the EU along with advantages, disadvantages and possible options for the future.