FluCAN is a hospital-based sentinel surveillance system for influenza. It was developed in 2009 to provide information to public health units on the incidence of severe influenza. It now operates in 21 hospitals in Australia, representing all states and territories. These include five specialist paediatric hospitals, where surveillance is performed in collaboration with the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) network.
The primary aim of FluCAN is to provide timely data on the epidemiology and clinical profile of patients with confirmed, severe influenza. FluCAN also aims to estimate vaccine effectiveness against severe influenza.
FluCAN was initially funded by the Australian NHMRC through a strategic grant, and has been supported by the Victorian Department of Health. It now receives funding from the Australian Department of Health. Data are collected using REDCap electronic data capture hosted at Monash University.