Surveillance of communicable diseases in tertiary health care system in Chandigarh, UT.

BACKGROUND Communicable disease surveillance is to have baseline data which will be helpful for planning and also for identifying epidemics under non-evident conditions. OBJECTIVE To delineate the pattern of occurrence of communicable diseases so as to enable early identification, followed by appropriate and timely response to outbreaks. MATERIALS AND METHODS Reports of listed communicable diseases from various departments and centers of Government Medical College, Chandigarh, involved in clinical care and laboratory diagnosis, were collected by the Department of Community Medicine on a weekly basis. Analysis of surveillance data was done for a period of 1 year--including reports from March 2005 to February 2006. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Percentage, normal test of proportions, time series analysis. RESULTS Out of 19,378 cases of various communicable diseases, 11,575, i.e, more than half, were dealt with by health centers. Thus maximum cases of acute respiratory infections (ARIs) [8,278 (71.87%)] and acute diarrheal diseases (ADDs) [3,148 (54.4%)] were dealt with by health centers. Of 19,378 cases, 11,518 (59.44%) were of ARIs, 5,786 (29.86%) of ADDs and 550 (2.84%) of pulmonary tuberculosis. There was no significant difference in the incidence of either disease between two sexes. Most, i.e, 4,413 (38.31%), cases of ARIs and 512 (86.49%) cases of pneumonia were reported in winter; ADDs--2,607 (45.05%) in summer; and typhoid--94 (41.04%) in the monsoon season. CONCLUSION Maximum workload of common communicable diseases was borne by health centers. The most common morbidity was ARIs, followed by ADDs and pulmonary tuberculosis. No significant gender predilection was seen. Overall reporting of communicable diseases observed in three different seasons was found to show a gradual increase from winter to summer through monsoon. Some specific seasonal trends were demonstrated by various morbidities.