Health Hygiene & Sanitation

Lesson 34 : Prevention And Control Of Infectious Diseases

Surveillance

Surveillance with prevention as the objective must follow all the control measures.

Definition: Continuous scrutiny of all aspects of occurrence and spread of disease which are pertinent to effective control.

• It is something beyond passive reporting of cases.
• It is an essential prerequisite to rational design and evaluation of any disease control programme.
• It includes-
1. Laboratory confirmation of presumptive diagnosis
2. Finding the source of infection
3. Routes of transmission
4. Identification of all cases, susceptible contacts and still others who are at risk
• It also includes-
1. Systematic collection of morbidity and mortality data
2. Consolidation of these data
3. Special field investigations
4. Rapid dissemination of this information to those who are responsible for control or prevention
• After instituting the control measures, their effectiveness is evaluated. If any flaws are found, the existing measures are modified and evaluation is continued.
• Surveillance comprises –
1. Individual surveillance
2. Local population surveillance
3. National surveillance
4. International surveillance