surveillance of infectious diseases Flashcards
what is surveillance
close observation normally in the context of a criminal
what is public health surveillance
systematic ongoing collection, analysis and interpretation of data and dissemination to those who need to know
why do we need surveillance
INFORMATION FOR ACTION
- detect diseases where and when it happens
- targeting interventions
- improving health of the population
what are the aims of surveillance
measuring the burden of disease
identify emerging problems
guide the planning and interpretation of programs to prevent and control disease
what is the surveillance cycle
- data collection and collation
- analysis and interpretation
- dissemination of information
what is an example of an indicator surveillance systems are
hospital admissions
what is an example of an event based surveillance systems
norovirus outbreak reporting
what is an example of a syndromic surveillance systems
collection of symptoms
what is an example of an passive surveillance systems
meningitis cases phoned from GPs
what is an example of active surveillance systems
trawling cases
what are examples of surveillance data sources?
- infectious disease reporting
- syndrome surveillance
vital statistics - others like school absences
what is the aim of analysis
generation of hypotheses, detection of outbreaks, process raw information into informatoion that can be used for decision making
what is a case definition
An example: A case is the occurrence of [spell out syndrome/ symptoms/diagnosis/clinical codes] in a resident of [spell out location] between [beginning date] and [end date]
what can cases be graded as
suspected, probable, and confirmed
in terms of PERSON what do you need to look at?
people who are infected
people who could be affected the denominator
