Real-time surveillance of laboratory confirmed influenza based on the Danish microbiology database (MiBa)

The Danish microbiology database (MiBa) is a national database that automatically accumulates patient test results from all Danish Departments of Clinical Microbiology. As an example for use of MiBa, we describe the real-time surveillance of laboratory confirmed influenza established in October 2012. It functions without any extra burdens of reporting by laboratories or clinicians. This is an important improvement of the existing surveillance for influenza like illness (ILI) which includes only limited virological testing. The MiBa based surveillance adds complete national virological data which are specific for influenza, in contrast to ILI, and serves as a tool for regional and national preparedness and planning.