Monitoring trends of respiratory illnesses via syndromic surveillance in SC is performed on a daily basis. SC Syndromic Surveillance primarily utilizes emergency department data, and provides situational awareness regarding broad syndrome categories among hospitals in the state. Respiratory illnesses represent a significant public health burden, causing the second highest number of outbreaks reported in SC. Since syndromic surveillance can potentially serve as an earlier indicator of outbreaks,1 it is beneficial to assess seasonality of respiratory illnesses to identify illness clusters early to mobilize a rapid response.
Objective
To assess the temporal patterns of respiratory illnesses in South Carolina (SC) using syndromic surveillance emergency department (ED) data.