Utility of the ESSENCE Surveillance System in Monitoring the H1N1 Outbreak

Authors

  • Rekha S Holtry Johns Hopkins University,Applied Physics Laboratory
  • Lang M Hung Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory
  • Sheri H. Lewis Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v2i3.3028

Abstract

The Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE) enables health care practitioners to detect and monitor health indicators of public health importance. ESSENCE is used by public health departments in the National Capital Region (NCR); a cross-jurisdictional data sharing agreement has allowed cooperative health information sharing in the region since 2004. Emergency department visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) in the NCR from 2008 are compared to those of 2009. Important differences in the rates, timing, and demographic composition of ILI visits were found. By monitoring a regional surveillance system, public health practitioners had an increased ability to understand the magnitude and character of different ILI outbreaks. This increased ability provided crucial community-level information on which to base response and control measures for the novel 2009 H1N1 influenza outbreak. This report underscores the utility of automated surveillance systems in monitoring community-based outbreaks.

Author Biography

Rekha S Holtry, Johns Hopkins University,Applied Physics Laboratory

Rekha S. Holtry received her M.P.H. from the George Washington University School of Public Health, with expertise in identifying and characterizing health-indicator data and using electronic disease surveillance systems for investigating data anomalies. She is currently project manager of the National Capital Region ESSENCE Syndromic Surveillance Network at the Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, working to ensure that evolving electronic disease surveillance needs of the public health user community are correctly defined, developed, and implemented within the operational ESSENCE system.

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Published

2010-12-23

How to Cite

Holtry, R. S., Hung, L. M., & Lewis, S. H. (2010). Utility of the ESSENCE Surveillance System in Monitoring the H1N1 Outbreak. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 2(3). https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v2i3.3028

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Section

Original Articles