Epidemiology and Surveillance

Program Overview

The Infectious Disease Surveillance Program conducts active, passive, sentinel, and syndromic surveillance investigations on notifiable conditions with:
  • Hospitals
  • Local medical providers
  • Public health stakeholders
  • Schools
  • Universities
Surveillance efforts consist of a systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data needed for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice.

Surveillance Activities

  • Serves as an early warning system for impending public health emergencies at the local, state, national, & international level(s)
  • Documents the impact of an intervention, or track progress towards specified goals
  • Monitors and clarifies the epidemiology of health problems, to allow priorities to be set and to inform public health policy and strategies
  • Conducts Mosquito Surveillance and collaborates with local municipalities as a part of the South Texas Vector Control Taskforce
  • Collaborates with public health partners through the Hida-Rey Binational Health Council and the Border Epidemiology Surveillance Teams (BEST)
  • Influenza Surveillance Program is held each year to track influenza with Hidalgo County

Required Reporting

Health care providers, hospitals, laboratories, schools, and others are required to report patients who are suspected of having a notifiable condition, pursuant Chapter 97, Title 25, Texas Administrative Code.

Visit the Disease Reporting page for more information.