Borroto-Ponce Rene

The threat of pandemic and seasonal influenza has drawn attention to syndromic surveillance systems for early detection of influenza-like illness. Since 2005, the Miami-Dade County Health Department has implemented ESSENCE (Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics) to monitor emergency department data for influenza-like Illness (ILI) using chief complaint information. This study evaluates the ability of the ESSENCE ILI chief complaint grouping for identifying true ICD-9 diagnosed influenza.

Objective

Previous studies have examined the utility of different methods of syndromic grouping. This study evaluates the utility of ESSENCE for ILI surveillance.

Although Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community Based Epidemics (ESSENCE) provides tools to detect a significant alert regarding an unusual public health event, combining that information with other surveillance data, such as 911 calls, school absenteeism and poison control records, has proved to be more sensitive in detecting an outbreak. On Monday, June 16, Florida Poison Information Network, which takes after-hours and weekend calls for Miami-Dade County Health Department (MDCHD), contacted the Office of Epidemiology and Disease Control about five homeless persons that visited the same hospital simultaneously with gastrointestinal symptoms on Saturday, June 14. Poison control staff asked MDCHD to investigate further to determine whether it was an outbreak.

Objective

To illustrate how MDCHD utilized ESSENCE in order to track a gastrointestinal outbreak in a homeless shelter.

In 2005, three hurricanes made landfall in Florida, with Hurricane Wilma having the most severe impact on Miami-Dade County. Syndromic surveillance is typically used to detect bioterrorism or natural disease outbreaks before specific diagnoses are made. After Wilma, however, the Miami-Dade County Health Department assessed the utility of syndromic data for surveillance of hurricane-related injuries.

Objective

To determine the proportion of injuries in Miami-Dade County that could be related to the impact of Hurricane Wilma, which made landfall in Florida on October 25, 2005.

Syndromic surveillance is an investigational approach used to monitor trends of illness in communities. It relies on pre-diagnostic health data rather than laboratory-confirmed clinical diagnoses. Its primary purpose is to detect disease outbreaks, incidents and unusual public health events earlier than possible with traditional public health surveillance methods.

Objective

To describe how epidemiological principles are utilized to distinguish a real alert from statistically significant alerts in order to monitor and create daily reports in the Miami-Dade County Health Department using Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community Based Epidemics. 

A large event such as the Super Bowl that attracts over 120,000 visitors to an area within a short period of time has the potential to increase the risk of communicable diseases and environmental hazards in a community in addition to the possibility of a bioterrorist attack. Though Miami-Dade County Health Department has in place a syndromic surveillance system, additional public health measures were implemented to ensure the health and safety of all residents and visitors in the weeks surrounding the February 4th event.

OBJECTIVE

To identify unusual patterns of communicable diseases, health events or bioterrorism-related activity in Miami-Dade County immediately before, during and after Super Bowl XLI.

The threat of terrorism and high-profile disease outbreaks has drawn attention to public health syndromic surveillance systems for early detection of natural or man-made disease events. In this sense, the Miami-Dade County Health Department has implemented ESSENCE (Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics) in 2005; which has been developed and updated by the Johns Hopkins University.

Objective 

This paper describes the dual monitoring process of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) syndrome in Miami-Dade County using the ESSENCE syndromic surveillance system, and their potential use as part of the seasonal influenza and pandemic influenza surveillance strategies.

The purpose of this study was to compare the 2005- 2006 and 2006-2007 Influenza seasons using Influenza-like illness (ILI) data received from Emergency Departments in Miami-Dade County.

This research aims to determine the catchment area of Miami Children's Hospital Emergency Department (ED). The purpose is to identify pediatric populations and territories within Miami-Dade County that are insufficiently covered by this hospital's ED.