By JEAN P. FISHER
Staff Writer
The News Observer (North Carolina)
Today the state will unveil a powerful new tool for safeguarding public health: a statewide electronic surveillance system that will monitor hospital emergency-room data for early signs of disease outbreaks and bioterrorism threats.
North Carolina hospitals with round-the-clock emergency departments will submit information to the state every 12 hours about symptoms in patients seen at their facilities. If needed, the state could get data as often as every 15 minutes.
That means for the first time ever, state public-health officials will have nearly real-time updates of emerging public-health threats. That will allow the state to respond more quickly, contain disease outbreaks sooner and save more lives, said Dr. Leah Devlin, the state health director.
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