[Analysis of syndromic surveillance of 63 325 outpatients in Fever Clinic in Beijing].

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To describe findings from syndromic surveillance of Fever Clinic visits and to determine the utility of monitoring Fever Clinic admissions as an indictor of respiratory infectious disease activity in Beijing. METHODS: A census on outpatients in Fever Clinics was conducted in two grade 3 general hospitals in Beijing from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010 based on a typical survey, the epidemiological characteristics of outpatients were analyzed and correlation among Fever Clinic visits, acute febrile respiratory illness (ARI) visits, influenza-like illness (ILI) visits and influenza visits determined. RESULTS: The seasonal patterns for Fever Clinic visits, ARI visits and ILI visits were quite similar, but that for influenza visits peaked later than those for ARI and ILI visits. There were high positive relationships between ARI visits, ILI visits or influenza visits and Fever Clinic visits, with a pearson's correlation coefficient of 0.99, 0.99 and 0.48, respectively (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Syndromic surveillance of Fever Clinic visits is valuable for early warning of respiratory infectious disease outbreaks. The Fever Clinic provides a platform for early diagnosis and treatment of respiratory infectious disease.