State and local public health officials rely
on health-care providers, laboratories, and
other public health personnel to report the
occurrence of notifiable diseases to state
and local health departments. Without such
data, trends cannot be accurately monitored,
unusual occurrences of diseases might not be
detected, and the effectiveness of
intervention activities cannot be easily
evaluated. In the United States,
requirements for reporting diseases are
mandated by state laws or regulations, and
the list of reportable diseases in each
state differs. In October 1990, in
collaboration with the Council of State and
Territorial Epidemiologists, CDC published
Case Definitions for Public Health
Surveillance (MMWR 1990;39{No. RR-13}),
which, for the first time, provided uniform
criteria for reporting cases.
Case definitions for syphilis under
public health surveillance follow:
Syphilis
Congenital syphilis |
