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Header: Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance

The mission of the North Carolina Immunization Branch is to protect the health of North Carolinians through the prevention, surveillance and control of vaccine-preventable diseases that can threaten public health. Vaccine-preventable diseases can be controlled by activities such as vaccination, isolation, antibiotic treatment and control measures.

Immunization Branch staff assist local health department staff, private healthcare providers and others in the state to confirm the occurrence of cases of illness, evaluate the need for intervention, and plan and implement control measures. In order to accomplish this, the Branch works closely with the local health departments in the state, providing advice and assistance where appropriate to promptly investigate and effectively treat each case of reportable vaccine-preventable disease.

VPD Surveillance Manual

North Carolina uses the Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable (from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) which provides current guidelines for those directly involved in surveillance of vaccine-preventable diseases, especially personnel at the local health departments. The Branch uses this manual as the foundation for its statewide surveillance in addition to the Hepatitis B Manual and the Guidelines for the Control of Pertussis Outbreaks. Links for all of these manuals can be found below.

For each vaccine-preventable disease, the Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases describes the importance of rapid case identification; the importance of surveillance; disease reduction goals; case definitions (including clinical description and case classifications); epidemiologically important data to be collected during case investigation; activities for enhancing surveillance; activities for case investigation; and activities for outbreak control.


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Link: N.C. Women's and Children's Health Web Site

The manual also includes information on surveillance indicators; surveillance data analyses; reporting adverse events following vaccination; and enhancing surveillance. In addition, the manual includes a section reserved for insertion of state-specific guidance for VPD surveillance and extensive appendices.

This manual is available only through this website and is no longer offered in a printed version. Offering the manual online keeps the manual as current as possible. As changes occur, the chapters will be replaced with updated versions.

Manual for the Surveillance of Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (4th Edition, 2008) Icon: Exit site

North Carolina's Hepatitis B Surveillance Manual (5/03) Icon: PDF document *Forms found in the 2003 Edition of the Hepatitis B Manual are no longer in use. All Hepatitis B cases are now reported through the North Carolina Electronic Surveillance System (NC EDSS) and may be accessed via the 2009 N.C. Communicable Disease Manual. A link is listed below.

Guidelines for the Control of Pertussis Outbreaks (2000, amendments made in 2005 and 2006) Icon: Exit site

VPD Reporting

All of the forms for Vaccine Preventable Disease (VPD) reporting in North Carolina are now part of the North Carolina Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NC EDSS) and may be accessed via the 2009 N.C. Communicable Disease Online Manual.

The 2009 N.C Communicable Disease Online Manual represents a collective attempt by state epidemiologists to assist local communicable disease staff with the following:

  • disease surveillance and investigation;
  • public health control measures;
  • communication of public health concerns; and
  • best practices for communicable disease programs.

North Carolina Immunization Branch staff worked with the Epidemiology Section in the development of the models for all VPDs as well as the forms.

The N.C. Division of Public Health initiated the statewide rollout of NC EDSS on March 3, 2008. Epidemiologists in the Division of Public Health recently revised the disease surveillance forms used in the statewide rollout. This manual provides access to the latest version of the forms with instructions.

Communicable disease forms in the N.C Communicable Disease Online Manual support the newly revised NCEDSS disease models. NC EDSS data entry screens were revised and became available August 10, 2009.

The first point of contact for a local health department, should you suspect any of the VPDs listed below, is your Regional Immunization Nurse Consultant (RIN) Icon: PDF document. If you cannot reach the Regional Immunization Nurse assigned to you, please call the Immunization Branch at 919-707-5550 for assistance.

  • Diptheria
  • Hepatitis B (Acute, Chronic Carrier, and Perinatally-Acquired)
  • Measles (Rubeola)
  • Mumps
  • Pertussis (whooping cough)
  • Polio
  • Reubella and congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS)
  • Tetanus

 
 

 

Last Updated: March 11, 2010

The purpose of this web site is both educational and informative.
Personal medical advice should be sought from your local health department or physician.

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