A hospital detects rising GI illness and uses EMR-based reporting to identify cases with symptom clusters and notify authorities. This is an example of which surveillance type?

• A. Syndromic
• B. Laboratory-based
• C. Active case finding
• D. Sentinel

Answer: (A)

This uses symptom patterns reported in real time to detect possible outbreaks, which is the hallmark of syndromic surveillance. By grouping clinical presentations (like gastroenteric symptoms) in EMR data and flagging clusters for rapid notification, it aims to identify unusual health events before lab confirmations are available.

Laboratory-based surveillance relies on confirmed test results, active case finding is a proactive search for cases rather than passive reporting, and sentinel surveillance uses data from selected sites rather than broad, real-time symptom-based signals.