Page 43 - Timeliness of Infectious Disease Notification & Response Systems - Corien Swaan

Timeliness of infectious disease reporting, the Netherlands, 2003-2009 41
Figure 2. Ic (I-corrected)= LP (latent period)-x (period of infectiousness before disease onset, index patient)
Results
Time intervals Po and Pd
In the study period we analysed 1910 reports on shigellosis, 432 reports on EHEC/STEC infection, 1263 reports on meningococcosis, 134 reports on mea- sles, 166 reports on typhoid fever and 1518 reports on HAV infection. Some reports had missing or incorrect data for the onset of symptoms timepoint and were therefore excluded. The median period from onset until notification (Po) varied between three days for meningococcosis to 16 days for typhoid fever (Table 1). When comparing the disease-specific incubation periods, the median intervals for shigellosis, EHEC/STEC infection, and typhoid fever exceeded the midpoints of the incubation periods by several days, whereas median delays of meningococcosis and measles were nearly equal to the incubation periods. The percentage of notifications that occurred within one incubation period varied
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