Syndrome Definitions for Diseases Associated with Critical Bioterrorism: Associated Agents

摘要

Recent events, including the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), West Nile virus, and monkeypox, have resulted in the implementation of alternate methods of disease surveillance that can potentially identify clusters of cases before traditional methods. Some surveillance systems utilize International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) coded health information from physician visit records or emergency department discharge data. Other systems abstract data from emergency department logs, 911 calls, or nurse call line data through analysis of text or other developed coding systems. Such surveillance methods are often referred to as syndromic surveillance since they typically monitor the non-specific clinical information that may indicate a bioterrorism-associated disease before specific diagnoses are made. Syndromic surveillance systems often utilize data sources that already exist but have not been designed specifically for public health surveillance purposes. Two data sources that may be available to augment a public health agency's surveillance activities are ICD-9-CM-coded discharge diagnoses for outpatient visits and emergency department visits.