title: Alert system to detect possible school-based outbreaks of influenza-like illness.
abstract: To evaluate the usefulness of school absentee data in identifying outbreaks as part of syndromic surveillance, we examined data collected from public schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA. An innovative automated alert system captured information about school-specific absenteeism to detect and provide real-time notification of possible outbreaks of influenza-like illness.
authors.affiliation: Florida Department of Health, Miami, Florida 33126, USA. pamela_mann@doh.state.fl .us
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: O'Connell
authors.forename: Guoyan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Anthoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Llau
authors.forename: Edhelene
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rico
authors.forename: Fermin C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Leguen
mesh_terms: D000041:Absenteeism; D018563:Disease Notification / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D053118:Influenza A Virus, H1N1 Subtype / Q000302:isolation & purification; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000821:virology; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D040442:Public Health Informatics; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012984:Software; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology