Using Public School Absentee Data to Enhance Syndromic Surveillance in Miami-Dade County, 2007

The Miami-Dade County Health Department currently utilizes Emergency Department based Syndromic surveillance data, 911 Call Center data, and more recently Public School Absenteeism data. Daily monitoring of school absenteeism data may enhance early outbreak detection in Miami-Dade County in conjunction with the use of other syndromic systems. These systems were employed to detect any possible outbreaks resulting from a large outdoor festival occurring March 11th, 2007. This event had an estimated 1 million visitors and it ended at 7:00 p.m.

Objective

Utility of school absenteeism data to enhance syndromic surveillance activities for unusual public health events or outbreak detection.