Providing Mailing Cost Reimbursements: The Effect on Reporting Timeliness of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Virginia.

Objectives: We investigated the effect of providing mailing cost reimbursements to local health departments on the timeliness of the reporting of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Virginia.

Methods: The Division of Disease Prevention, Virginia Department of Health, provided mailing cost reimbursements to 31 Virginia health districts from October 2002 to December 2004. The difference (in days) between the diagnosis date (or date the STD paperwork was initiated) and the date the case/STD report was entered into the STD surveillance database was used in a negative binomial regression model against time (as divided into three periods-before, during, and after reimbursement) to estimate the effect of providing mailing cost reimbursements on reporting timeliness.

Here Comes the SSuN: Early Experiences with the STD Surveillance Network.

In 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established the STD Surveillance Network (SSuN), a sentinel surveillance system comprising local, enhanced sexually transmitted disease (STD) surveillance systems that follow common protocols. The purpose of SSuN is to improve the capacity of national, state, and local STD programs to detect, monitor, and respond rapidly to trends in STDs through enhanced collection, reporting, analysis, visualization, and interpretation of clinical, behavioral, and geographic information obtained from a geographically diverse sample of individuals diagnosed with STDs. To demonstrate the utility of a national sentinel surveillance network, this article reviews the lessons learned from the first three years of SSuN, which, through its enhanced gonorrhea and genital warts sentinel surveillance projects, has proved to be a useful adjunct to routine STD surveillance in the U.

Assessment of Geographic Information Systems and Data Confidentiality Guidelines in STD Programs.

Objective: Advancements in technology, such as geographic information systems (GIS), expand sexually transmitted disease (STD) program capacity for data analysis and visualization, and introduce additional confidentiality considerations. We developed a survey to examine GIS use among STD programs and to better understand existing data confidentiality practices.

Methods: A Web-based survey of eight to 22 questions, depending on program-specific GIS capacity, was e-mailed to all STD program directors through the National Coalition of STD Directors in November 2004.