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Accident & Emergency Departments Communicable Diseases Syndromic Surveillance

Accident & Emergency Departments Communicable Diseases Syndromic Surveillance

This weekly update is produced by the Surveillance Division of the Communicable Disease Branch of the Centre for Health Protection of the Department of Health. It summarises the findings of the communicable diseases surveillance based at the Accident & Emergency Departments of public hospitals.

I. Message of the week

Week 47 (19-Nov-2023 to 25-Nov-2023)
The rate of the hand, foot and mouth disease syndrome group remained at a high level.

II. Weekly average rates in the past four weeks (per 1000 coded cases)

Attendance date Influenza-like illness syndrome group Hand, foot and mouth disease syndrome group Acute gastroenteritis syndrome group Acute conjunctivitis syndrome group
Week 47
(19-Nov to 25-Nov) 		172.7 2.2 77.4 5.5
Week 46
(12-Nov to 18-Nov) 		159.9 2.6 78.9 6.9
Week 45
(5-Nov to 11-Nov) 		162.9 2.0 81.5 6.4
Week 44
(29-Oct to 4-Nov) 		160.6 2.0 83.9 6.0

Notes

  1. The influenza-like illness syndrome group includes codes related to influenza, upper respiratory tract infection, fever, cough, throat pain, and pneumonia.
  2. The hand, foot and mouth disease syndrome group includes codes related to hand, foot and mouth disease, herpangina, and enterovirus related presentations.
  3. The acute gastroenteritis syndrome group includes codes related to gastroenteritis, gastritis, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, and food poisoning.
  4. The acute conjunctivitis syndrome group includes codes related to conjunctivitis.
  5. Data in this report are provisional and subject to revision based on updated information.

III. Weekly charts for the current and previous two years

Weekly chart for the influenza-like illness syndrome group. The rate of the influenza-like illness syndrome group was at baseline level.
Weekly chart for the hand, foot and mouth disease syndrome group. The rate of the hand, foot and mouth disease syndrome group remained at a high level.
Weekly chart for the acute gastroenteritis syndrome group. The rate of the acute gastroenteritis syndrome group was at baseline level.
Weekly chart for the acute conjunctivitis syndrome group. The rate of the acute conjunctivitis syndrome group was at baseline level.

Methodology

  1. This surveillance system makes use of the principal diagnosis code (ICD-9-CM) data collected at the Accident & Emergency Departments under the Hospital Authority. These codes are grouped by their attendance dates into time series data.
  2. The rate for each syndrome group is calculated by dividing the number of consultations with the principal diagnosis codes equalling to one of the codes in the corresponding syndrome group, by the number of consultations with principal diagnosis codes provided.