New York State has implemented a statewide Electronic Clinical Laboratory Reporting System (ECLRS) to which laboratories can electronically submit test results for reportable conditions. The Communicable Disease Electronic Surveillance System (CDESS) was used by 57 Local Health Departments (LHDs) to transfer ECLRS information and initiate investigations. Currently over 98% of licensed clinical labs are reporting via ECLRS. Positive laboratory test results are required to confirm over 80% of communicable diseases and they are often the first indication of a disease. Early detection of disease outbreaks is important for timely implementation of disease prevention and control measures. The space-time permutation scan statistic only requires disease counts, event date and disease location, which are collected from ECLRS and can be used to detect potential disease outbreaks by identifying spatial-temporal lab report clusters.
Objective
This abstract explains how the space-time permutation scan statistic only requires disease counts, event date and disease location, which are collected from ECLRS and can be used to detect potential disease outbreaks by identifying spatial-temporal lab report clusters.