Establishing the Global Influenza Surveillance System

Developing a System

With improved public health data and research during the 1930s and 40s, scientists finally were able to discover the Influenza virus. The tracking and reporting of cases to public health offices became a common preventative and management strategy. Read below about how the changes in the virus in different outbreaks forced the need for enhanced influenza surveillance, resulting in the development of the World Health Organization’s Global Influenza Programme in 1948.

A scientist at the World Influenza Centre in London receives samples from a lab in Yugoslavia, circa 1950. The World Influenza Centre was the first WHO Collaborating Center for Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Control of Influenza (WHO CC). In 1957, WHO selected CDC as the second WHO CC.

Courtesy of the World Health Organization, 1950s

The Beginning of a World-Wide Plan to Monitor Influenza: The Global Influenza Programme

Influenza vaccine production requires continuous monitoring to know which influenza viruses are currently circulating and to identify new influenza viruses. Widespread influenza surveillance was undertaken by several institutions in the mid-20th century, and continues today.

In 1947, the World Health Organization (WHO) gathered a panel of experts to propose solutions to prevent pandemic influenza. The panel recommended establishing a Global Influenza Programme to collect and study influenza viruses, distribute information, and coordinate laboratory work on a global scale. In 1948, the Global Influenza Programme was approved, and The World Influenza Centre was established in London to serve as a global reference laboratory. By 1952, the Global Influenza Programme had developed into a worldwide network of laboratories called the Global Influenza Surveillance Network.

As CDC gained national and global prominence, WHO selected CDC to serve as a WHO Collaborating Center for Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Control of Influenza in 1956. In 1957, when another influenza pandemic emerged, CDC took a leading role in influenza control.

Today there are 6 WHO Collaborating Center for Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Control of Influenza located in the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, China, and Australia. Here a man works with the influenza viruses at Commonwealth Serum Laboratories in Melbourne, Australia after it had been named a WHO CC in 1992.