The Epidemiology of Human Respiratory Viruses in Indonesia: A Systematic Review

Viral pathogens greatly contribute to higher respiratory disease burden among individuals living in low-to-middle income countries (LMICs). In Indonesia, influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) surveillance networks have been established to better understand the epidemiology of viral respiratory disease; however, publicly available data from these systems are sparse. Here, we summarize the results of a literature review conducted to identify published articles related to human respiratory viruses in Indonesia. We identified 106 scientific articles, published between 1998 and 2022. Of these, 59 (55.7%) studied coronaviruses (57 SARS-CoV-2 and 2 MERS-CoV), 38 (35.8%) studied influenza viruses (21 influenza A and B virus and 17 influenza H5N1 virus), 5 (4.7%) studied RSV, 2 (1.9%) studied enterovirus (one human rhinovirus and one coxsackievirus), 1 (0.9%) studied torque teno virus, and 1 (0.9%) studied cytomegalovirus. Our findings show that large numbers of studies in Indonesia were primarily conducted in response to viral respiratory disease outbreaks, but with limited epidemiological data. We also identified gaps in information regarding the geographical distribution of viral respiratory disease burden, as studies were more highly concentrated in populated cities, such as Jakarta, Java, and Bali. This review highlights the need for more robust surveillance of ILI and SARI cases throughout Indonesia, as well as a prioritization of more resources for viral respiratory disease etiology and epidemiological studies.Funding Information: This project was supported by Prof. Anderson’s startup funds (Duke Kunshan University).Declaration of Interests: The authors report no conflicts of interest.