Challenges faced by hospital healthcare workers in using a syndrome-based surveillance system during the 2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Taiwan.
Because the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in Taiwan in 2003 was worsened by hospital infections, we analyzed 229 questionnaires (84.8% of 270 sent) completed by surveyed healthcare workers who cared for patients with SARS in 3 types of hospitals, to identify surveillance problems. Atypical clinical presentation was the most often reported problem, regardless of hospital type, which strongly indicates that more timely syndromic surveillance was needed.
Shih
Fuh-Yuan
FY
College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, No. 17 Xu Zhou Road, Taipei City, Taiwan 100, China.
Yen
Muh-Yong
MY
Wu
Jiunn-Shyan
JS
Chang
Fang-Kuei
FK
Lin
Lih-Wen
LW
Ho
Mei-Shang
MS
Hsiung
Chao A
CA
Su
Ih-Jen
IJ
Marx
Melissa A
MA
Sobel
Howard
H
King
Chwan-Chuen
CC
D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control; D018563:Disease Notification; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D017758:Infectious Disease Transmission, Patient-to-Professional / Q000517:prevention & control; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital; D010564:Personnel, Hospital; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology