The surveillance of infectious diseases.

Surveillance is the collection, collation, and analysis of data and the dissemination to those who need to know so that an action can result. This article describes the clinician's critical role in disease reporting and outlines the benefits of surveillance to clinical practice. Four commonly used systems of disease surveillance are notifiable disease reporting, laboratory-based surveillance, hospital-based surveillance, and population-based surveillance. We analyze the relative strengths and limitations of each of these systems and present current efforts to evaluate and improve surveillance activities.

[1]  J. P. Davis,et al.  Lyme disease: A tick-borne spirochetosis , 1983 .

[2]  F. G. Carey.  A brain heater in the swordfish. , 1982, Science.

[3]  A. Hinman,et al.  Progress in measles elimination. , 1982, JAMA.

[4]  S. Thacker,et al.  From the centers for disease control. Improved accuracy and specificity of forecasting deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza. , 1981, The Journal of infectious diseases.

[5]  S B Thacker,et al.  An evaluation of influenza mortality surveillance, 1962-1979. I. Time series forecasts of expected pneumonia and influenza deaths. , 1981, American journal of epidemiology.

[6]  M. E. Levy,et al.  Shigella surveillance in a large metropolitan area: assessment of a passive reporting system. , 1980, American journal of public health.

[7]  A. Steere,et al.  Cases of Lyme disease in the United States: locations correlated with distribution of Ixodes dammini. , 1979, Annals of internal medicine.

[8]  J A Bryan,et al.  Guillain-Barre syndrome following vaccination in the National Influenza Immunization Program, United States, 1976--1977. , 1979, American journal of epidemiology.

[9]  S. M. Martin,et al.  The role of nationwide nosocomial infection surveillance in detecting epidemic bacteremia due to contaminated intravenous fluids. , 1978, American journal of epidemiology.

[10]  J. Marr,et al.  Shigella surveillance in the United States, 1975. , 1977, The Journal of infectious diseases.

[11]  R. Marier,et al.  The reporting of communicable diseases. , 1977, American journal of epidemiology.

[12]  B. Levy,et al.  Intensive hepatitis surveillance in Minnesota: methods and results. , 1977, American journal of epidemiology.

[13]  J. Mcgowan,et al.  Influenza detection: a prospective comparison of surveillance methods and analysis of isolates. , 1976, American journal of epidemiology.

[14]  W. M. Burrows,et al.  Erythema chronicum migrans in the United States. , 1976, JAMA.

[15]  E. Gangarosa,et al.  Impact in the United States of the Shiga dysentery pandemic of Central America and Mexico: a review of surveillance data through 1972. , 1974, The Journal of infectious diseases.

[16]  A D LANGMUIR,et al.  The surveillance of communicable diseases of national importance. , 1963, The New England journal of medicine.