The Enhancement of the Communicable Disease Electronic Surveillance System with Perinatal Hepatitis B and Syphilis Serology Tracking Modules

New York’s Electronic Clinical Laboratory Reporting System(ECLRS) provides a secure, rapid means for laboratories to meet public health reporting requirements. A patient-centric communicable disease electronic surveillance system(CDESS), integrated with ECLRS, was developed and implemented in 2005 for all 57 local health departments (LHDs) to initiate investigation, tracking, and monitoring of infectious diseases. Two new modules (tracking of perinatal hepatitis B and syphilis serologies) were developed within ECLRS/CDESS. We describe the functionality of these two modules and how they are integrated within CDESS/ECLRS. The infant records from the State Laboratory’s Newborn Screening System of infants born to HBsAg-positive mothers are automatically uploaded to the ECLRS. When LHD staff transfer these records from ECLRS to CDESS, an infant record is generated and linked to the mother’s hepatitis B case report in CDESS. The module stores the infant’s hepatitis B vaccination information and the post-vaccination serology results. The mother’s pregnancy history and risk factors are also tracked. Reminder reports can be generated for infants due for vaccination and serology tests. This module assists LHDs to ensure that the infant is vaccinated according to the recommended schedule. The syphilis serology module allows a user to link a patient’s serology result from ECLRS to a CDESS case report which is automatically updated. It also allows the user to track the patient’s history of test and treatment information. This information is available to all CDESS users, with appropriate permissions, allowing them to see patients’ information in all counties within the state, while allowing only counties that entered each case to edit the data for a particular patient. Both perinatal hepatitis B infant tracking and syphilis serology modules will be implemented with user training and documentation by August 2008. Bi-directional data exchange with the Immunization Information System(NYSIIS) to update perinatal hepatitis B infant records will be planned.