Information Systems for Surveillance of Communicable Diseases

Before the Internet era, and prior to the use of teleinformatics, information was gathered via paper-based forms. In this early period, the system of notification of infectious diseases came to maturity and became firmly entrenched in the public health practice of most developed countries. When teleinformatics began to be used in public health, 10 to 15 years ago, the high potential of electronic networking became clear as a result of several national and regional experiments. The New York State Department of Health implemented ‘HEALTHCOM’, a statewide health care network, and France developed the ‘Reseau SENTINELLES’. For several years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in USA has been alerting state epidemiologists through an electronic text-message system.