Timeliness of national reporting of communicable diseases: the experience of the National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance.

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Abstract
The timeliness of reporting four nationally notifiable diseases was examined using data reported via the National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance. Timeliness of reporting varied by disease (bacterial meningitis: median 20 days; salmonellosis: median 22 days; shigellosis: median 23 days; and hepatitis A: median 33 days) and by state. These findings indicate a need to standardize surveillance definitions and to account for reporting differences between states in interpreting regional disease trends or detecting multistate disease outbreaks.