SnotWatch: data collaboration informing disease impact

The spectrum of health conditions associated with the circulation of respiratory viruses remains poorly quantified. The SnotWatch platform has established a databank containing test results for respiratory polymerase chain reaction tests conducted by eight major Victorian pathology laboratories and has obtained access to major healthcare presentation databases, such as the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset, Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset and POLAR GP. By establishing a statistical approach to describe the associations between healthcare presentations and circulating viruses in space and time at a population level, SnotWatch is uncovering the health conditions associated with virus circulation. SnotWatch’s methods have been validated by demonstrating the capacity to describe well-known associations, but have also uncovered novel associations. Methods used have also been able to incorporate environmental exposures. By elucidating the associations between viruses and health conditions, SnotWatch allows clinicians to make better informed diagnoses, anticipate healthcare presentations and outcomes, optimises resource management by healthcare providers and allows the benefits of vaccination to be more fully appreciated. SnotWatch’s future includes establishing methods for attributable burden, developing models for nowcasting and deepening our understanding of the economic impact of viruses.