Distributed data processing for public health surveillance

Lazarus, Ross; Yih, Katherine; Platt, Richard

Participating data providers have near real-time ICD9 codes for every encounter, usually assigned by clinicians at the time of the encounter. Since much acute infectious disease manifests as broad suites of nonspecific symptoms, we monitor 13 syndromes -Respiratory, Lower gastro-intestinal (GI), Upper GI, Neurological, Botulism-like, Fever, Hemorrhagic, Skin lesions, Lymphatic, Rash, Shock-death, Influenza-like illness and SARS-like illness. All syndromes except Influenza-like illness and SARS-like illness were defined by a working group led by CDC and Department of Defense [7] . Individual ICD9 codes are used to aggregate encounters into one of these 13 syndromes. The definitions (ICD9 code lists) of 11 of these syndromes are available [7] . The definitions comprising the other two syndromes were developed in consultation with both CDC and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.