Communicable Disease Reporting & Surveillance System

Many people are surprised to learn that the New Jersey Department of Health has developed an electronic, web-enabled system where public health partners statewide can instantly report and track incidences of communicable diseases.

The Communicable Disease Reporting and Surveillance System (CDRSS) facilitates the timely reporting and immediate sharing of pertinent data, thus supporting appropriate public health responses, be they isolated incidences or multi-state outbreaks.

Positive laboratory reports of communicable diseases are entered into CDRSS either by electronic laboratory reporting (ELR) transmissions or are entered manually on a daily basis from clinical laboratories and hospitals. Follow up information is added by the public health nurse or health officer.

The CDRSS is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and weekly transmissions to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) support national as well as statewide surveillance. There are many communicable diseases that require investigation when a resident living in towns that Northwest Bergen Regional Health Commission services has or is suspected of having a communicable or reportable disease.