In Connecticut (CT), several syndromic surveillance systems have been established by the Department of Public Health (DPH) to detect and monitor potential public health threats. The emergency department syndromic surveillance (EDSS) routinely categorizes chief complaint data into pre-defined syndrome categories, and also has the flexibility to define syndromes in real-time. Thus, DPH can use this system for situational awareness during public health events. Several recent events provided an opportunity to evaluate EDSS for this purpose: 1) two cases of cutaneous anthrax in CT in September 2007; 2) national and local media attention surrounding MRSA infections and published research in October 2007 and 3) the introduction of rotavirus vaccine through the Vaccines for Children Program in July 2006 following its licensing in February 2006.
Objective
To evaluate the performance of the CT EDSS system for situational awareness during specific public health events.