Frequently asked questions

What's it all about?
How should I choose a username and password?
How do I change my email address or password?
Can I join the Flusurvey if I live abroad?
What questions do you ask in the Flusurvey?
What is the purpose of the profile survey?
How do I complete/update my profile survey?
What is the purpose of the weekly symptoms survey?
How do I complete my symptoms survey?
Why do I not see follow-up questions appear if I select symptoms?
What if I am on holiday, or can't fill in the survey for other reasons?
Should I report my symptoms when I'm away from home?
What should I do if I have a long term health condition that causes symptoms on the symptoms list?
How do I manage multiple participants?
How do I unsubscribe from the newsletter?
Still having trouble?

The Flusurvey is an online flu surveillance system, in which anyone in the UK can take part. Participants are asked to report any flu-like symptoms each week during the flu season. For more information about the Flusurvey and what it involves, see The project.

You will need a working email address in order to register for the Flusurvey. Choose a username consisting of numbers, letters and underscores (no spaces) and a password.

If you have forgotten your password or username, you can request a new password and find out your username by clicking on Forgotten login details? on the top right of the webpage.

You can change your email address at any time by navigating to the Survey tab and then to My settings. You can change your password by navigating to the Survey tab and then to Change password

If you have forgotten your password or username, you can request a new password and find out your username by clicking on Forgotten login details? on the top right of the webpage.

Email us to receive a code. There are simple instructions here.

Can I join the Flusurvey if I live abroad?

We are currently only accepting participants who are UK residents. However, we have partner sites in nine other countries: Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

The Flusurvey consists of two questionnaires: a profile survey that you complete once upon registering and the weekly symptom survey.

The symptom survey has been designed not to ask unnecessary questions - for instance if you report no symptoms then you won't be asked when your symptoms started. Questions should appear on and disappear from your screen depending on the answers you have given so far.

The profile survey asks general questions about you and about various flu-related risk factors, such as your age, household size, and vaccination status.

You only need to complete the profile survey the first time you log on to complete the weekly symptom survey. But if your information changes (for example, if you get vaccinated or move home) you can update your profile information at any time (see next question).

The first time you log in, you will automatically be taken to the profile survey. If you would like to update your profile survey in the future (for example, if you get vaccinated or move home), you can update your profile information at any time by clicking on My profile in the Survey tab (you'll have to be logged in to see this) .

The symptom survey asks about respiratory symptoms in the past week, or since you last completed the survey. If you do not complete the survey in a given week, we don't know whether you are well, or if you simply forgot to complete the survey. Because of this, we ask you to complete the survey even when you have no symptoms. It's a simple click on "No symptoms" and then "Submit", so it should only take a few seconds of your time.

Simply navigate to the Survey tab (you'll have to be logged in to see this) or click on Take the survey in the right column. You will need to complete the profile survey before completing the symptom survey for the first time.

Please ensure that you have javascript enabled in your browser - it is this that controls the flow of questions.

If you can't fill in the survey a few times, this is no problem. Simply continue the survey when you are back.

Generally, yes. We often don't know exactly where we were infected, so if in doubt report what you have. Also, we're trying to get people's infection profile over the whole season. However, when you are moving abroad we would ask you to stop completing the survey.

Such conditions exist -- e.g., chronic fatigue syndrome or rheumatoid arthritis -- but for the Flusurvey we don't need to know about these symptoms; we just care about new symptoms that might be related to influenza-like illness, so please only record new symptoms.

Each account holder can take part on behalf of multiple participants - for example, members of your family or household. If you are completing the survey for yourself only, you don't need to do anything - just go straight to the surveys.

If you would like to manage multiple participants, first  navigate to the Survey tab; then to add a member of your group, click on the + sign next to Name in the table in the centre of the page. You will then be asked to select who you are completing the surveys for before taking each survey.

There is a link at the bottom of the newsletter to unsubscribe. Also, you can unsubscribe by navigating to the Survey tab and then to My settings. Note that you can still complete the weekly survey having unsubscribed from the newsletter, if you wish to continue to do so.

If you have any queries, comments, or questions, please contact us, and we'll respond as soon as possible.

If you are experiencing technical issues with the survey, please report the browser type and its version number (often from the 'About' section in your browser's Help menu), and if possible include a screen shot of the problem - this will help us work out what's going wrong. 

To make a screen shot on a Windows machine, press the "print screen" button on your keyboard (often labelled [PrtScn] on the upper right corner of the keyboard). Open Microsoft Paint or Word and paste the contents of the clipboard using Ctrl+v or edit>paste.