Volume 9, Number 10, October 2003

Syndromic Surveillance and Bioterrorism-related Epidemics

James W. Buehler,* Ruth L. Berkelman,* David M. Hartley,† and Clarence J. Peters‡
*Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, Georgia, USA; †University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; and ‡University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA

Figure 1. Number of cases of syndromic illness by time in a hypothetical bioterrorism attack and two pathways to establishing a diagnosis: syndromic surveillance coupled with public health investigation (upper pathway) and clinical and diagnostic evaluation of patients with short-incubation period disease (lower pathway). A, scenario favoring earlier detection by means of clinical evaluation. B, scenario favoring earlier detection by means of syndromic surveillance.

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This page last reviewed September 19, 2003

Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal
National Center for Infectious Diseases
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