Electronic Case Reporting for Measles Surveillance
- Presentation Day/Time: Wednesday, April 22, 1:25 PM
- Presenter: Ntiense Inyang, MD, MPH, Los Angeles County Public Health Department
The Issue
- Measles is a highly infectious vaccine-preventable disease that can cause severe illness and death. Cases must be reported immediately for a prompt public health response, including containment measures and postexposure prophylaxis, but traditional surveillance methods have gaps in timely and complete reporting.
What We Did
- Los Angeles County is piloting electronic case reporting (eCR), an automated, real-time exchange of information between healthcare facilities' electronic medical records and public health entities. We reviewed eCRs generated during July–November 2025 by 652 participating health facilities across the county for presence of measles clinical criteria (fever, rash, coryza, cough, or conjunctivitis), specific eCR criteria that initiated the report, and turnaround time from meeting eCR criteria to eCR generation.
What We Found
- Among 37 measles case reports, rash was documented in 20 case reports and both fever and rash were documented in eight case reports; 17 case reports lacked documentation of any clinical criteria for measles. Median time from meeting eCR criteria to eCR generation was 111 hours.
What This Means
- The pilot eCR system does not yet meet expectations for complete and timely measles reporting. To meet the needs of measles case investigations, reporting needs to occur within 24 hours and contain supporting clinical information, including fever and rash. Although eCR can improve measles reporting, it is best suited to complement traditional surveillance until timeliness and completeness deficits are addressed.
