Conceptual Heterogeneity Complicates Automated Syndromic Surveillance for Bioterrorism

Abstract

We identified 15 different syndromic surveillance systems currently in use. From these, we found 8 different case definitions for acute respiratory illness due to intentional release of biological weapons. All 15 surveillance approaches we identified used different criteria for enumerating and tallying illness syndromes attributable to biological illness, (Table 1) with little or no evidence of a coordinated or evidence-based approach.