Welcome to TARRANT Viral Watch!

Influenza surveillance remains a priority at the local, provincial, national and international levels, with new value brought to surveillance systems after the H1N1 Swine Influenza pandemic.

Our goal is to detect influenza-like illness clinically as it occurs in the community and to measure influenza virologically in the lab. Data is collected by volunteer physicians and nurse practitioners, and is compiled by Tarrant Viral Watch prior to being forwarded to Alberta Health and Wellness, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and ultimately the World Health Organization. This contributes to the provincial, Canadian and global picture of influenza activity, and helps us to detect epidemics and pandemics.

Our program name is in honour of Dr. Michael Tarrant, whose years of dedication before his death in June 2003 ensured that Alberta had one of the best community sentinel practice programs in the world.

Due to the dedication of our sentinels, Alberta remains a major contributor to national influenza surveillance and vaccine effectiveness research, thus giving Alberta a stronger presence in national pandemic planning and surveillance initiatives.
We hope that you will consider joining our program to be part of a network that has been running for over 25 years.

Jim Dickinson
TARRANT Program Director