Communicable Disease Surveillance

Disease surveillance is an epidemiological practice by which the spread of disease is mentioned in order to establish patterns of progression. The main role of Priority Communicable Disease Surveillance (PCDS) is to predict, observe, and minimize the harm caused by outbreak, epidemic, and pandemic situations, as well as increase our knowledge to what factors might contribute to such circumstances. A key part of modern disease surveillance is the practice of disease case reporting.

Objective

Surveillance of priority communicable diseases started with a view to build up an early warning system for certain important public health important diseases in Bangladesh, namely: (1) Diarrheal disease (acute watery diarrhea and bloody dysentery); (2) Malaria; (3) Kala-azar; (4) Tuberculosis; (5) Leprosy; (6) Encephalitis; (7) Unknown diseases of public health concern.

This study assessed the performance of the core function activities (CFA) of the Communicable Disease Surveillance system and response (CDSs) existing in Gazera State. The first assessment of disease surveillance being conducted in the area during 2008-2009. The assessment findings facilitate the identification of exact areas for improvement and consequently was used in surveillance system improvement as well as a baseline for future reform plans (1). Communicable diseases in Gazera State continue to be the leading cause of morbidity and mortality (2). The State was one of the states that experienced epidemics of serious diseases such as Acute Watery Diarrhoea, Cerebro-spinal Meningitis, Rift valley Fever..etc. During the last decade, the state has witnessed more than twenty epidemics resulting in high morbidity and mortalities, as reported in 2006-2007(1). This was coupled with struggling health services and health information system and this was stated in the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) annual report 2008 (2).

Objective

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of staff qualification and training on the performance of Core Function Activities (CFA) Of Communicable Disease Surveillance System in Gazera State, Sudan.

Difficulties in timely acquisition and interpretation of accurate data on communicable diseases can impede outbreak detection and control. These limitations are of global importance: they contribute to avoidable morbidity, economic losses, and social disruption; and, in a globalized world, epidemics can spread rapidly to other susceptible populations.

SARS and the potential for an influenza pandemic highlighted the importance of global disease surveillance. Similarly, the World Health Organization’s newly implemented 2005 International Health Regulations require member countries to provide notification of emerging infectious diseases of potential global importance. The challenges arise when Ministries of Health (MoH) in resource-poor countries add these mandates to already over-burdened and under-funded surveillance systems. Appropriately adapted, electronic disease surveillance systems could provide the tools and approaches MOHs need to meet today’s surveillance challenges.

Objective

In this presentation we will discuss the concept of electronic disease surveillance in resource-poor settings, and the issues to be considered during system planning and implementation.

Centre for Health Protection (CHP) plans to conduct a pilot project in developing a syndromic surveillance system using data from Emergency Departments (ED) in Hong Kong. This is part of the Communicable Disease Information System initiative, which aims at enhancing the capability of Hong Kong in the control and prevention of communicable diseases.

Objective

This paper describes how the CHP of Hong Kong designed and deployed an online interactive system that uses the data from ED for syndromic surveillance.

This paper outlines the integration of hospital admission, Febrile Respiratory Illness (FRI) screening and Canadian Triage and Acuity Score (CTAS) data streams within an Emergency Department Syndromic Surveillance system. These data elements allow better characterization of outbreak severity and enable more effective resource allocation within acute care settings.

This paper examines the continued usefulness, through the 2005-06 influenza season, of a hospital admissions-based syndromic surveillance system as a supplement to laboratory and clinical influenza surveillance in preparation for pandemic influenza.