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National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System
History
In 1878, Congress authorized the U.S. Marine Hospital Service
(i.e., the forerunner of the Public Health Service [PHS]) to collect
morbidity reports regarding cholera, smallpox, plague, and yellow fever
from U.S. consuls overseas; this information was to be used for instituting
quarantine measures to prevent the introduction and spread of these
diseases into the United States. In 1879, a specific Congressional
appropriation was made for the collection and publication of reports
of these notifiable diseases. The authority for weekly reporting and
publication of these reports was expanded by Congress in 1893 to include
data from states and municipal authorities. To increase the uniformity
of the data, Congress enacted a law in 1902 directing the Surgeon General
to provide forms for the collection and compilation of data and for
the publication of reports at the national level. In 1912, state and
territorial health authorities--in conjunction with PHS--recommended
immediate telegraphic reporting of five infectious diseases and the
monthly reporting, by letter, of 10 additional diseases. The first
annual summary of The Notifiable Diseases in 1912 included reports
of 10 diseases from 19 states, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii.
By 1928, all states, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico
were participating in national reporting of 29 specified diseases.
At their annual meeting in 1950, the State and Territorial Health Officers
authorized a conference of state and territorial epidemiologists whose
purpose was to determine which diseases should be reported to PHS.
In 1961, CDC assumed responsibility for the collection and publication
of data concerning nationally notifiable diseases.
The list of nationally notifiable
diseases is revised periodically. For example, a disease may
be added to the list as a new pathogen emerges, or a disease may
be deleted as its incidence declines. Public health officials at
state health departments and CDC continue to collaborate in determining
which diseases should be nationally notifiable; CSTE, with input
from CDC, makes recommendations annually for additions and deletions
to the list of nationally notifiable diseases. However, reporting
of nationally notifiable diseases to CDC by the states is voluntary.
Reporting is currently mandated (i.e., by state legislation or regulation)
only at the state level. The list of diseases that are considered
notifiable, therefore, varies slightly by state. All states generally
report the internationally quarantinable diseases (i.e., cholera,
plague, and yellow fever) in compliance with the World Health Organization's
International Health Regulations.
Data on selected notifiable infectious diseases are published
weekly in the MMWR and at year-end in the
annual Summary of Notifiable Diseases,
United States.
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