Population Health Assessment and Surveillance

Nova Scotia Surveillance Guidelines for Notifiable Diseases and Conditions

The Nova Scotia Surveillance Guidelines for Notifiable Diseases and Conditions provide detailed guidance to public health staff in Nova Scotia on the reporting of notifiable diseases and conditions for surveillance purposes.

This document includes surveillance case definitions, case counting guidelines, and detailed reporting procedures for information collected as part of communicable disease follow-up.

The Surveillance Guidelines are a companion document to the Nova Scotia Communicable Disease Control (CDC) Manual. The CDC Manual provides guidance on public health case management and can be found at the following URL: http://www.gov.ns.ca/hpp/cdpc/CDCManual.

Contact information for the DHW Surveillance Team can be found in Appendix C of the Guidelines.

Surveillance Guidelines Table of Contents

• Chapter 01 - Introduction

• Chapter 02 - Public Health Surveillance – An Overview

• Chapter 03 - Legislation, Agreements, Roles and Responsibilities

• Chapter 04 - Surveillance Information Flow

• Chapter 05 - Surveillance Case Definitions for Notifiable Conditions

• Chapter 06 - DHA Reporting to DHW Surveillance Team

• Chapter 07 - Dissemination of Information from DHW Surveillance Team

• Chapter 08 - Enteric, Foodborne and Waterborne

• Chapter 09 - Bloodborne Pathogens

• Chapter 10 - Sexually Transmitted Infections

• Chapter 11 - Vaccine Preventable Diseases

• Chapter 12 - Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI)

• Chapter 13 - Tuberculosis (TB)

• Chapter 14 - Direct Contact, Respiratory Routes, and Through the Provision of Health Care

• Chapter 15 - Vectorborne And Other Zoonoses

• APPENDIX A - ANDS Business Procedures

• APPENDIX B - Influenza Guidelines

• APPENDIX C - Surveillance Forms

Surveillance Guidelines Webinar

The Surveillance Guidelines webinar was hosted by the DHW Surveillance Team on September 9, 2011. The purpose of this session was to provide a brief overview of the contents of the Guidelines, and to engage those involved in public health reporting for surveillance purposes with several interactive reporting scenarios. Recordings from the webinar are provided below:

• Introduction – Includes general information about the Guidelines as well as several case counting scenarios
• Disease-specific scenarios:
  • Hepatitis B
  • Syphilis
  • Tuberculosis
  • Measles
  • Mumps
  • Salmonella
• Conclusion