ISDS Member, Beverley Paterson, is an epidemiologist assisting WHO and Fijian Ministry of Health with a large dengue outbreak, and send the following request for input:
“We have reached a stage where regular testing of cases is about to cease and the reporting of laboratory-confirmed will stop. We are currently transitioning to dengue like illness (DLI) surveillance and from next week will report on these DLI numbers. I have concerns about how to communicate and report (to the various Ministries and the press) on the transition from the counting of laboratory tested cases to cases identified through DLI surveillance.
Do any of your members have advice on how to handle the change? Should we stop talking about cumulative cases, or do we add the DLI cases to the existing lab-confirmed ones? What do people think we should do with the epi curve – perhaps add the DLI cases to the lab confirmed ones but colour code the change? Or should we just start afresh? Finally, does anyone have any words that we could use for the media (I have some snippets that we used during the pandemic when we reached this stage in Australia but would appreciate further suggestions). Unfortunately I need help on this in the next day or two, so would much appreciate quick responses.”
Tags: dengue, dengue-like, illness, reporting
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