Short Period Incidence Study of Severe Acute Respiratory Illness

This is a multi-centre, prospective, short period incidence observational study of patients in participating hospitals and intensive care units (ICUs) with SARI. The study period will occur, in both Northern and Southern hemispheric winters. The study period will comprise a 5 to 7-day cohort study in which patients meeting a SARI case-definition, who are newly admitted to the hospitals / ICUs at participating sites, will be included in the study. The study will be conducted in 20 to 40-hospital/ ICU-based research networks globally. All clinical information and sample data will only be recorded if taken as part of the routine clinical practice at each site and only fully anonymised and de-identified data will be submitted centrally. The primary aim of this study is to establishing a research response capability for a future epidemic / pandemic through a global SARI observational study. The secondary aim of this study is to investigate the descriptive epidemiology and microbiology profiles of patients with SARI. The tertiary aim of this study is to assess the Ethics, Administrative, Regulatory and Logistic (EARL) barriers to conducting pandemic research on a global level.