Detection of Enteric Disease Epidemics Using a Diarrhea-specific Category

The Utah Department of Health documented a single epidemic of cryptosporidiosis in Utah during 2007. Seven hundred eleven laboratory-confirmed cases were reported in Salt Lake County, Utah from July 27 through December 18. Illness onset date was available for 86% (611 of 711) of patients and ranged from May 30 through November 11. Approximately 32% (224 of 691) of patients sought care in area emergency departments or urgent care facilities, and 8.5% (50 of 590 with data available) of patients required hospitalization.

This graph shows emergency department visits classified as diarrhea for patients of all ages and genders. The intersection of the lines toward the beginning of August indicates that EpiCenter would have detected this health event in its early stages.

A poster of this evaluation is available here.