National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP)
Syndromic surveillance provides health officials a timely system for detecting and monitoring health events. By tracking symptoms of patients in emergency departments—before a diagnosis is confirmed—public health can detect unusual levels of illness to determine whether a response is warranted. Every day, data from more than 4,000 healthcare facilities from 47 states, representing 70% of the nation’s emergency department visits, are sent to the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP).
NSSP is a collaboration among CDC, federal partners, local and state health departments, and academic and private sector partners who have formed a community of practice. They collect, analyze, and share electronic patient encounter data to detect, characterize, monitor, and respond to events of public health concern. Syndromic data can serve as an early warning system for public health concerns such as flu outbreaks and have been used in responses for opioid overdoses, vaping-associated lung disease, Zika virus infection, and natural disasters.
NSSP Develops Queries to Support Lung Injury Response
In mid-August 2019, NSSP staff began working with members of the NSSP CoP and CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (the Injury Center) to develop queries that could support CDC’s ongoing multistate lung injury response. The NSSP and Injury Center teams collaborated with community partners to draft and refine two definitions.
Learn how syndromic surveillance detects and monitors health events through the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) and its community of practice.
Learn how syndromic surveillance has improved the nation’s public health in success stories from our local and state public health department partners.
Learn how NSSP partners with programs across CDC to improve syndromic surveillance and respond to health events like the opioid overdose epidemic, vaping lung disease outbreak, and Zika virus infection.
Access our resources for syndromic surveillance practitioners such as the NSSP Community of Practice, Knowledge Repository, BioSense Platform and tools, onboarding materials, and quick start guides.
