Electronic reporting improves timeliness and completeness of infectious disease notification, The Netherlands, 2003

In 2002, the internet based reporting system OSIRIS in the Netherlands fully replaced the paper-based reporting system. The objectives of OSIRIS were to improve timeliness and completeness of surveillance data on infectious diseases reported from regional to national level. We compared the timeliness of infectious diseases reported by the conventional system in 2001 with those reported by OSIRIS in 2003. Two distinct types of delay were compared: (1) total delay: defined as time between sympton onset and reporting at national level and (2) central delay: defined as time between regional and national reporting. Except for cases of malaria, the total delay, from symptom onset to national reporting, was significantly reduced, with OSIRIS records containing more complete information than conventional records. In total, in 2003, 92.3% of data field examined were complete compared with 81.3% in 2001. This study documents the benefits of electronic reporting of infectious disease surveillance data in terms of improved timeliness and completeness.