Seattle Fire Department Infectious Disease Tracking - ILI

Laidback Al · Apr 23, 2012

Seattle Fire Department real time tracking of 14 day moving average of ILI in Seattle, WA area.

http://www2.seattle.gov/fire/sitfound/default.asp

From a ProMED report (link).

. . .  We are also using a tool to give e-mail alerts to Fire Department upper management and public health when symptoms exceed certain thresholds. Again, this is done in real time as the symptom data is collected. We are not using a clinical case definition for the types of symptoms we are capturing because the intent is to detect novel events that may not fit a case definition. The system we used accurately detected and tracked the outbreaks of H1N1 in 2009.

14-day moving averages of symptoms are posted on our web site each day and might be another useful source for early detection of outbreaks.
Here is the link to the daily reports:
<http://www2.seattle.gov/fire/sitfound/default.asp>.

The site also has background information and research that I have conducted on infectious disease early warning systems. If other sources -- like ED visit data -- could be combined with our field reports there might be better information for public health officials to be more proactive. It's not that hard or expensive to do -- it just requires the willingness to do it.

--
Communicated by:
Lenny Roberts
IT Director, Seattle Fire Department
Seattle, WA
USA

http://www.promedmail.org/direct.php?id=20120422.1110181

Seattle Fire Department Infectious Disease Tracking - ILI

Laidback Al

Well-known member