ABSTRACT
In
Japan, the incidence of almost all common pediatric infectious diseases has
been monitored, with 7 - 10 day
delays, at medical institutions through the National Official Sentinel
Surveillance of Infectious Diseases (NOSSID). On the other hand, based on
prescriptions filled at external pharmacies, Prescription Surveillance (PS)
collects information and provides estimated numbers of influenza, varicella,
and gastroenteritis infectious (GI)
patients to the public the following morning. For precise, and real-time estimation of incidences of common
pediatric infectious diseases, we evaluated predictive power of PS for diseases
other than influenza, varicella, and GI. Results demonstrated that PS
information has sufficient predictive power for pharyngoconjunctival fever,
group A streptococcal pharyngitis, exanthem subitum, and mumps, some predictive
power for RS virus infection, erythema infectiosum and herpangina, but insufficient
predictive power for hand, foot and mouth disease.