Value of syndromic surveillance within the Armed Forces for early warning during a dengue fever outbreak in French Guiana in 2006.
BACKGROUND
A dengue fever outbreak occured in French Guiana in 2006. The objectives were to study the value of a syndromic surveillance system set up within the armed forces, compared to the traditional clinical surveillance system during this outbreak, to highlight issues involved in comparing military and civilian surveillance systems and to discuss the interest of syndromic surveillance for public health response.


METHODS
Military syndromic surveillance allows the surveillance of suspected dengue fever cases among the 3,000 armed forces personnel. Within the same population, clinical surveillance uses several definition criteria for dengue fever cases, depending on the epidemiological situation. Civilian laboratory surveillance allows the surveillance of biologically confirmed cases, within the 200,000 inhabitants.


RESULTS
It was shown that syndromic surveillance detected the dengue fever outbreak several weeks before clinical surveillance, allowing quick and effective enhancement of vector control within the armed forces. Syndromic surveillance was also found to have detected the outbreak before civilian laboratory surveillance.


CONCLUSIONS
Military syndromic surveillance allowed an early warning for this outbreak to be issued, enabling a quicker public health response by the armed forces. Civilian surveillance system has since introduced syndromic surveillance as part of its surveillance strategy. This should enable quicker public health responses in the future.
Meynard
Jean-Baptiste
JB
Institut Pasteur de la Guyane, Cayenne 97306, French Guiana. jbmeynard@pasteur-cayenne.fr
Chaudet
Hervé
H
Texier
Gaetan
G
Ardillon
Vanessa
V
Ravachol
Françoise
F
Deparis
Xavier
X
Jefferson
Henry
H
Dussart
Philippe
P
Morvan
Jacques
J
Boutin
Jean-Paul
JP
D003715:Dengue / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005616:French Guiana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*