Disease surveillance

Disease surveillance is an epidemiological practice by which the spread of disease is monitored in order to establish patterns of progression. The main role of disease surveillance is to predict, observe, and minimize the harm caused by outbreak, epidemic, and pandemic situations, as well as increase knowledge about which factors contribute to such circumstances.

A key part of modern disease surveillance is the practice of disease case reporting.

History

Disease surveillance was first implemented in France in 1850 by Dr. Louis-René Villermé, who used it to study the correlation between economic status and cholera prevalence.

Types of Surveillance

There are several types of disease surveillance including passive surveillance, active surveillance, sentinel surveillance, and syndromic surveillance.

Passive Surveillance

In passive surveillance, laboratories and health care providers send reports to a health department on the basis of a set of rules and regulations. While it is low cost, it may underestimate the prevalence of a disease and there may be delays in the notification of health departments.

Active Surveillance

In active surveillance, the health department is proactive and contacts health care providers or laboratories requesting information about diseases.

Sentinel Surveillance

Sentinel surveillance is used when high-quality data are needed about a particular disease that cannot be obtained through passive surveillance.

Syndromic Surveillance

Syndromic surveillance is the analysis of medical data to detect or anticipate disease outbreaks. It is a relatively new type of surveillance that can be used to detect outbreaks of new diseases, as well as to monitor the rate of diseases already present in the population.

Benefits

Disease surveillance allows for the monitoring of disease trends over time and the identification of populations or regions at high risk. It also helps in the early detection of outbreaks and in the evaluation of control measures.

Challenges

Despite its benefits, disease surveillance faces several challenges including logistical difficulties, lack of resources, and issues related to data management and interpretation.

See Also

• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Global Health