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Infectious Disease Early Warning

An early detection system for infectious diseases, integrating data from outpatient clinics, hospitals, ambulance transport, pharmacies, schools, nursery schools, and elderly care facilities across Japan.

Explore the System
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Multi-Channel Data

Eight surveillance channels including outpatient, inpatient, ambulance, OTC pharmacy, nursery school, school absenteeism, elderly facilities, and laboratory testing.

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Early Detection

Syndromic surveillance identifies unusual patterns before laboratory confirmation, enabling faster public health responses to emerging outbreaks.

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Event Monitoring

Enhanced surveillance was conducted at major mass gatherings including the Hokkaido Toyako Summit 2008, APEC Yokohama 2010, and COP10 Nagoya 2010.

How Syndromic Surveillance Works

Syndromic surveillance monitors health-related data in near real-time to detect signals of infectious disease outbreaks before conventional diagnosis-based systems. By tracking symptoms and proxy indicators — such as school absenteeism, pharmacy dispensing, and ambulance transports — public health authorities can identify anomalies and respond earlier.

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Surveillance Channels

Syndromic surveillance in Japan draws on a broad range of data sources, each contributing a distinct signal for outbreak detection. These channels collectively provide a comprehensive picture of community health status, from clinical settings to everyday community indicators.

  • Outpatient (外来) — clinic visit symptom data
  • Inpatient (入院) — hospital admission surveillance
  • Ambulance Transport (救急車搬送) — emergency call patterns
  • OTC Pharmacy (OTC) — over-the-counter medication sales
  • Nursery School (保育園) — preschool absenteeism tracking
  • School Absenteeism (学校欠席) — nationwide school-based system
  • Elderly Facilities (高齢者施設) — care-home health monitoring
  • Laboratory Testing (検査) — test-ordering pattern analysis
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School Absenteeism System

As of January 2016, approximately 23,618 schools across 25 prefectures, 6 designated cities, and 2 special wards — covering about 53% of elementary, junior high, and high schools nationwide.

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Pharmacy Surveillance

Daily influenza estimates derived from anti-influenza drug dispensing data across 10,064 participating pharmacies, with prefecture-level and designated-city breakdowns from the 2009/2010 through 2014/2015 seasons.

Blog

  1. Tracking MRSA outbreaks in nursing homes with syndromic surveillanceAustralia's population is ageing, and residential aged care facilities across Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and regional towns are now home to more than 180,000…
  2. Monitoring postpartum haemorrhage signals through obstetric emergency admission dataPostpartum haemorrhage remains one of the most time-critical emergencies in maternity care, and in Australia the condition continues to shape how hospitals…
  3. Pharmacy Prescriptions as Early Signals for Strep ClustersPharmacy counters across Australia dispense millions of antibiotic scripts every year, and the patterns hidden in those dispensings can reveal things that…
  4. Catching Tick-Borne Encephalitis Early Through Meningitis-Like SyndromesTick-borne encephalitis is a viral infection of the central nervous system that can progress from a quiet febrile illness to life-threatening…
  5. Spotting rotavirus outbreaks early through school absenteeism patternsRotavirus remains one of the most common causes of severe gastroenteritis in young children across Australia, particularly during the cooler months. While most…
  6. Mapping Croup Seasonality Through Emergency Department Visit TimestampsCroup is one of those childhood illnesses that quietly follows the calendar, swelling paediatric emergency departments every autumn across Australia and then…
  7. Using Pediatric Neurology Referrals to Monitor Acute Flaccid ParalysisAcute flaccid paralysis (AFP) is a clinical syndrome involving sudden or rapidly developing weakness with reduced muscle tone. It can arise from poliovirus,…
  8. Detecting Scarlet Fever Signals Before Laboratory ConfirmationScarlet fever can spread quickly through primary schools, childcare settings and households when group A Streptococcus circulates among children. The familiar…
  9. Using Acute Kidney Injury Signals After Australian FloodsFlooding can create the conditions for leptospirosis to spread before health authorities see a clear rise in laboratory-confirmed cases. Floodwater and wet…
  10. Prenatal vitamin sales as a denominator for pregnancy-related signalsSyndromic surveillance is designed to identify unusual health patterns before laboratory confirmation, a capability that can be valuable when pregnancy-related…

Technical Support

For inquiries about the syndromic surveillance systems, including the school absenteeism information collection system and pharmacy surveillance:

Contact: Yasushi Ohkusa, Senior Researcher

Institution: Infectious Disease Epidemiology Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases

FAX: 03-5285-1129

Email: ohkusa@nih.go.jp

All inquiries accepted by FAX or email only. For school absenteeism system login issues, please contact your municipal board of education or childcare division.