The Epidemiologic Surveillance Project: a computer-based system for disease surveillance

The Epidemiologic Surveillance Project (ESP) is a computer-based surveillance system for the rapid transmission and analysis of national morbidity data. These data are transmitted weekly by state health department computers to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), using a commercial electronic mail facility (MINET). Participating state health departments transmit data through existing computer systems using a standard record and data transmission protocol. State and national data are rapidly analyzed at the CDC, and reports of these analyses are transmitted through MINET to the states. Maps based on these data and other tabular displays of demographic and epidemiologic characteristics of the diseases being tracked are periodically prepared and distributed. Because the efficiency, speed, and uniformity of tabulation of this system are greater than those of systems that use protocol and telephonic reports of case totals, the ESP may be a model for future surveillance systems.