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PubMedDate not supplied

Infectious diseases: statutory notification and surveillance.

The notification of infectious diseases has evolved over a number years and will continue to do as practices change or are modified. This article gives an insight into how the system for notification has developed. It outlines the process and purpose for notification and how the accumulation of data gathered can help nurses, midwives and health visitors make strategic plans for intervention and prevention of further outbreaks of disease. The nurse, midwife or health visitor has a central role to play in ensuring that diseases are notified to the 'proper officer'. Furthermore, if nurses, midwives and health visitors were given the power to notify diseases, the number of diseases notified may increase. This would result in a clearer and truer account of the number of notifiable diseases.

Data Collection↗
PubMed2002

Evaluation of a video based health education strategy to improve sexually transmitted disease partner notification in South Africa.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the feasibility and impact of a health education intervention promoting partner notification for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). METHODS: The research setting was a busy public health clinic in a rural district in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. A before/after quantitative study design was used to measure the effect of an audiovisual presentation of a compelling love drama, posters, and pamphlets. Measures collected from all consenting STD index patients during a 6 week pre-intervention (control) phase were compared with those collected during a 6 week intervention phase. A qualitative evaluation assessed whether the intervention accurately portrayed the intended educational messages. RESULTS: 150 index patients (55% female) were interviewed in the control phase and 185 index patients (64% female) in the intervention phase. The intervention phase showed improvements on several measures of self efficacy about notifying casual partners, such as a belief among index patients that a greater proportion of their casual partners would see the importance of seeking treatment as a result of their notification interaction. The rate of contact cards returned per index patient was 0.27 in the intervention phase, compared with 0.20 in the control phase (95% CI for the rate difference: -0.05, 0.17). The qualitative research found that the intervention was thoroughly enjoyed by patients and clinicians, but a fundamental problem with it was that patients received confused messages about the relation between HIV/AIDS and other STDs. This has potentially negative consequences for partner notification. CONCLUSION: The intervention needs further development, and then could provide a highly acceptable, cost effective model for health education in clinics in developing countries.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Notification of infectious diseases by junior doctors in accident and emergency departments.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge about notifiable infectious diseases by accident and emergency (A&E) senior house officers. METHODS: A telephone questionnaire of senior house officers was carried out over a one week period at the end of their six month attachment in A&E departments in Northern Ireland. RESULTS: 81 (91%) of the senior house officers participated in the study; 23 (29%) realised that the doctor diagnosing the notifiable disease had a statutory duty to notify that disease; nine (11%) were aware there were three statutory lists in the United Kingdom. Knowledge about which infectious diseases require notification varied from 79/81 (98%) for meningococcal disease to 15/91 (19%) for methicillin resistant S aureus. Seventy nine (98%) of the doctors thought that a poster displayed in the A&E department would be helpful. There was no significant difference between duration of qualification and performance on the questionnaire (p = 0.2). CONCLUSIONS: Despite varying experience, junior doctors in A&E do not know which infectious diseases are notifiable by statute. They felt that it would be helpful to have a poster in the A&E department listing the notifiable diseases of that region. To encourage accurate reporting, interregional variation between the statutory lists should be abolished and replaced by one nationally agreed list.

Communicable Diseases↗
PubMed1999

[A quality assessment of notified occupational diseases submitted to the National Occupational Environment Service].

The aim of this study was to assess the quality of a consecutive sample of occupational disease notifications submitted to the National Working Environment Service during 1994. The sample consisted of 860 notifications describing occupational diseases among persons working in companies situated in the county of Vejle. The data information e.g. company name and address, time of employment, harmful exposure and disease, were registered. An overall data quality assessment was performed including evaluation of the etiological connection between described occupational exposure and disease and potential preventive perspectives. The study showed that the notified informations in general were adequate, but doctors need to pay more attention to dose description of the harmful exposure. About 80% of the notifications presented an adequate connection between occupational exposure and disease. Only half of the notifications described preventable and recent (less than five years) harmful exposure. In conclusion, the Danish occupational disease notification system is in general of a high standard, and the National Working Environment Service could make more use of doctors' information provided in these notifications.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Evaluation of the information provided by the system of compulsory notification of diseases].

In order to assess activities of epidemiological surveillance resulting from the statutory notification system, a total of 17,394 notification records of eight infectious diseases (brucellosis, bacillary dysentery, typhoid fever, viral hepatitis, meningococcal infection, rickettsioses other than exanthematous typhus, pulmonary tuberculosis, and tuberculosis of other organs) together with 10,503 epidemiological surveys submitted to the "Servei Territorial de Salut Pública" of the province of Barcelona between 1982 and 1986 were reviewed. In notification records, data to locate physicians were the most commonly found (between 92.6% and 99.4% according to disease), whereas in epidemiological surveys, clinical and analytical data were the most frequently encountered. The inclusion of data of epidemiological interest ranged from 3.6 to 68.6%. In order to improve efficacy of the statutory notification system a proposal is made to reduce the extension of epidemiological surveys in terms of requesting only necessary data to establish appropriate measures in each case.

Communicable Disease Control↗
PubMed2003

Effect of the preschool pertussis booster on national notifications of disease in Australia.

BACKGROUND: Australia introduced a fifth dose of pertussis vaccine at 4 to 5 years of age in 1994, the first country to do so for some 40 years. We report trends in national pertussis notifications from 1993 to 2001. METHODS: Notified pertussis cases were analyzed by age and year of disease onset. RESULTS: Before the fifth dose was introduced, notification rates were higher among 5- to 9-year-olds than 10- to 14-year-olds (76 per 100 000 population vs.65 per 100 000). As more 5- to 9-year-olds became eligible for the fifth dose, their notification rates as a group and by year of age progressively fell to below those of 10- to 14-year-olds, consistent with a vaccine effect. Comparison of notification rates for the epidemic years of 1997 and 2001 shows that 5- to 10-year-olds (eligible for fifth dose) had lower notification rates in 2001 (61 per 100 000) than 5- to 10-year-olds in 1997 (196 per 100 000). This contrasts with children who were not eligible for the fifth dose (12- to 14-year-olds), who had higher notification rates in 2001 (223 per 100 000) than 12- to 14-year-olds in 1997 (160 per 100 000). CONCLUSIONS: The pattern of age-specific notification rates provides strong evidence that the fifth dose reduced the incidence of pertussis in older children. It will be important to track the impact of the fifth dose on adolescent pertussis notifications to assess the duration of vaccine-acquired immunity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

The knowledge, attitude and practices of the reporting of notifiable diseases among health workers in Yobe State, Nigeria.

Effective surveillance is the key to effective disease control in the community. In Nigeria, it is weak with duplication of data collection and multiple reporting channels. There is also lack of clarity with regards to data submission responsibilities. However, the knowledge of reporting requirements and responsibilities among health personnel has not been examined adequately as a cause of under reporting. This study was designed to assess the knowledge of health workers about disease surveillance. A cross sectional study was conducted in six randomly selected local government areas in Yobe State, North Eastern Nigeria. A total of 144 health personnel from 88 health facilities were administered a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire and a checklist by trained research assistants. The result showed that only fifty-five (38.2%) of the respondents were aware of the national disease surveillance system. Their mean score regarding immediate notifiable diseases was 0.8 +/- 1.23 SD (maximum of 10). Thirty nine (70.9%) reported to have ever reported, while 16 (29.1%) have never reported any of the notifiable conditions. Only 12 (21.8%) of the respondents claimed to have ever received feedback on the reports they forward to higher authorities and more than 92% of the health facilities lack the DSN 001 and 002 forms. Most of the respondents 47 (85.5%) that were aware of the reporting requirements listed lack of training on disease surveillance as one of the factors affecting disease reporting. This shows that lack of knowledge of reporting requirement was identified as a major factor affecting disease surveillance among the respondents. The training and retraining of health workers responsible for data generation, collection and forwarding in health facilities on disease notification, regular feedback on diseases reported and provision of forms were recommended in order to improve the disease surveillance system.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Chagas' disease: triatomines notification of the São Paulo State during the 1990s].

The objective of this study was to analyze the surveillance of Chagas' disease in São Paulo State through notifications registered from 1990 to 1999. The information originated when notification of triatomines was announced by inhabitants and the established control program was followed. 20,563 triatomine notifications were received, showing a decrease over the years, with more accentuated decreases in the area of greatest frequency of Panstrongylus megistus. Each notification corresponded to an average of 1.3 examples of captured triatomines (median = 1), predominantly in the intradomicile area, while during attendance, the mean number of collected insects was 3.6 (median = 2), mostly present in the peridomicile area. The notification distribution permitted the demarcation of three different areas in the state: area 1, comprising the areas of São José do Rio Preto, Araçatuba and part of Presidente Prudente; area 2, São Vicente and Sorocaba; area 3, municipalities located to the northeast of the Campinas region. Analysis showed that entomological surveillance through triatomine notification, despite the fall in the same, has not detected intradomiciliary colonies associated with Trypanosoma cruzi which could give rise to vectorial transmission of Chagas' disease.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Validation of guidelines for investigating foodborne disease outbreaks: the experience of the Lazio region, Italy.

Information about risk ratios, exposures, and vehicles for foodborne diseases tends to be more reliable when it is obtained from outbreak surveillance than when it is obtained from disease notifications. In 1997, guidelines for methods of investigating foodborne disease outbreaks (FBDOs) were implemented in the Lazio region. To evaluate the impact of these guidelines, we analyzed information about 410 FBDOs from 1996 to 2000. Under these guidelines, the delay in the reporting of outbreaks decreased from 10 to 2 days. An analysis of 82 large FBDOs (in which > 30 people were exposed) showed increases in the calculation of attack rates with a cohort approach (up to 83%), correctly drawn epidemic curves (up to 79%), and the calculation of food-specific relative risk (up to 60%). On the other hand, the level of the determination of etiology remained low: tests were performed on patients in 57% of the cases considered, resulting in an agent identification rate of 38%; for 22 outbreaks, tests were performed on food, resulting in three positive identifications. Analysis of the contamination route with the use of hazard analysis critical control point criteria a posteriori was carried out for 15 outbreaks, and nine of these analyses were successful. The implementation of the 1997 guidelines was successful with regard to epidemiological and statistical methods but did not improve etiological diagnosis for FBDOs. These guidelines improved surveillance for outbreaks in which > 30 people were exposed in well-defined exposure situations; however, the guidelines did not significantly improve epidemiological investigations of small household outbreaks.

Cohort Studies↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Confidentiality. 13: The notification of infectious diseases.

Jenny Rose was a paediatric community nurse who regularly visited a child with a chronic lung condition who was being nursed at home. On one visit she noticed that the child's mother, Jane, appeared to be very pale and thin and was told that the mother had a severe gastric disorder with diarrhoea. From the description of the illness, Jenny thought that Jane might be suffering from typhoid. Jane worked as a cook in a restaurant, was unwilling to seek medical advice and intended going to work that night. Jenny was concerned that Jane could have a serious notifiable infectious disease and therefore be a danger to customers in the restaurant. Jane insisted that Jenny should keep the information confidential. Where does Jenny stand?

Adult↗
PubMed2006

Notification of rheumatic fever in South Africa -- evidence for underreporting by health care professionals and administrators.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether under-reporting of rheumatic fever occurs at hospital, municipal, provincial and national levels of the South African health system. BACKGROUND: Information on the incidence of rheumatic fever (RF) and the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is required for the prevention of valvular heart disease in developing countries. In South Africa, RF was made a notifiable condition in 1989. It has recently been suggested that the reporting of RF cases may be incomplete, possibly because of underreporting by health care professionals and deficient administration of the disease notification system in South Africa. METHOD AND RESULTS: We assessed whether underreporting of RF cases occurs by comparing the numbers of RF cases reported per year at hospital, municipal, provincial and national levels from 1990 to 2004. There was a fall in the number of RF cases reported per year at national and provincial level over the 15 years of observation. A detailed analysis of the number of RF cases reported at hospital, municipal and provincial level for a 5-year period showed that more cases were diagnosed in one hospital (serving a smaller population) than were captured at municipal and provincial level (serving a larger population), suggesting underreporting by health care professionals. There were discrepancies in the number of cases reported at municipal, provincial and national level, suggesting poor administration of the notification system. CONCLUSION: There appears to be underreporting of RF cases by health care professionals, and poor administration of the RF notification system. Health care professionals need to be educated about the statutory requirement to notify all RF cases in South Africa. An effective national disease notification system is required.

Data Collection↗
PubMed1994

General practice awareness of notifiable infectious diseases.

The Acheson Report concluded that the process of infectious disease notification in England and Wales was unsatisfactory and recommended that it should be reviewed. However, the success of any notification system will depend on the knowledge and motivation of general practitioners, who are responsible for a large proportion of infectious disease notifications. A district-wide telephone survey was conducted in Croydon among general practitioners to assess the level of awareness of which diseases are on the statutory notification list. Respondents' opinions were also sought on the composition of the present list. Results indicated that a generally high level of awareness contrasted with a relative paucity in knowledge of certain of the more common diseases. Differences in knowledge were not associated with the sex, the length of time since the doctor qualified or the number of partners in the particular practice. Motivation may be a particularly important factor underlying the present incompleteness of notifications. A large proportion of doctors stated that legionellosis, AIDS, brucellosis and listeriosis merited statutory notification.

Communicable Disease Control↗