Active and passive surveillance for communicable diseases in child care facilities, Seattle-King County, Washington.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate models for public health surveillance of illnesses among children in out-of-home child care facilities. METHODS: Between July 1992 and March 1994, 200 Seattle-King County child care facilities participated in active or enhanced passive surveillance, or both. Reporting was based on easily recognized signs, symptoms, and sentinel events. Published criteria were used in evaluating surveillance effectiveness, and notifiable disease reporting of participating and nonparticipating facilities was compared. RESULTS: Neither surveillance model was well accepted by child care providers. Enhanced passive and active surveillance had comparable sensitivity. Reporting delays and the large amount of time needed for data entry led to problems with timeliness, especially in terms of written reporting during active surveillance. CONCLUSIONS: Widespread active public health surveillance in child care facilities is not feasible for most local health departments. Improvements in public health surveillance in child care settings will depend on acceptability to providers.

Changes in seroprevalence to four herpesviruses over 30 years in Swedish children aged 9–12 years

“…More than 90% seropositives at the ages 10-14 years is described in several studies and various countries (Muench et al, 1986;Salleras et al, 2001;Wutzler et al, 2001). A higher incidence of chickenpox among children attending day care has been demonstrated (Jorm and Capon, 1994;Hurwitz et al, 1997;MacDonald et al, 1997;Brisson et al, 2001). School and preschool patterns probably play an important role in the spread of VZV (Brisson et al, 2001).…”

Web-Based Surveillance of Illness in Childcare Centers

“…In the early 1980s, attempts to perform both active and passive biosurveillance in childcare centers in Seattle, WA, failed because of the substantial delays in reporting and the labor-intensive work required to enter, collect, and collate data using paper-based forms from each center. 34 Subsequent development of computer technology and online access has decreased reporting times and the labor required to collect surveillance data. Many states have developed online surveillance systems using data from hospital systems and clinics.…”

Illnesses and Absence Due to Illness Among Children Attending Child Care Facilities in Seattle-King County, Washington

“…12,13 Briefly, facilities were eligible to participate if they were licensed, located in Seattle-King County, and provided care for children Ͻ6 years of age. After stratification based on the number of children for which they were licensed to provide care, participating facilities were randomly selected from a list of 2188 potentially eligible facilities.…”

“…12,13 In this report, we describe the incidence of providerreported illness and absence due to illness among children in these facilities. We compare the frequency with which various types of illnesses were linked with absence.…”