Currently, Indiana monitors emergency department patient chief complaint data from 73 geographically dispersed hospitals. These data are analyzed using the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics application.
While researchers continue to improve syndromic detection methods, there is significant interest among public health practitioners regarding how to most effectively use the currently available tools. The Public Health Emergency Surveillance System (PHESS) staff have developed and refined a daily syndromic alert analysis and response process based on experiences gained since November 2004.
Objective
This paper describes how the Indiana State Department of Health PHESS staff responded to a syndromic surveillance alert related to a bioterrorism preparedness event.