Surveillance system of infectious diseases in Japan

The surveillance system of infectious disease in Japan started in 1981 and has been providing useful epidemiological information on 27 communicable diseases. The system consists of medical institutions (fixed monitoring stations), institutions of hygienic sciences, health centers, local governments and the ministry of health and welfare. There are two types of information about infectious diseases. One is clinical reports of incidence cases from medical institutions, and the other is laboratory information about etiologic agents. Between health centers, local governments and the department of statistics and information in the ministry of health and welfare, information is transmitted through the on-line network. Collected information is analyzed and submitted by both local and central committees of analysis. From the epidemiological point of view, quality control of the data and integration of other sources of data would be the next goal of the system.