Countywide Communicable Disease Reports (Epigram)

Monthly reports contain an early source of infectious disease surveillance and indicator data for Stark County, Ohio. This data is important for monitoring early trends of notifiable infectious diseases and for targeting prevention and control efforts.

Important information data users should know about the report to facilitate proper analysis and interpretation:

1. This report comprises compilations of data received by offices of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and the four local health jurisdictions in Stark County: Alliance City, Canton City, Massillon City and Stark County.
    
2. The diseases, reportable by law, may increase or decrease over time.
    
3. The reporting status of diseases included may be determined by state law or be acquired through voluntary submissions.
    
4. Data are provisional and subject to change upon the completion of ongoing disease investigations.
    
5. Epigram is prepared in the three weeks following the end of the calendar month; delayed case reports would be included in later issues. The same would apply to subsequent differences resulting from duplicates or erroneous data entries in individual reports.
    
6. Temporal distributions are generally based upon the date of report to the local health district or if unavailable, the next available date for epidemiologic purposes, including date of specimen collection or date reported to ODH.
    
7. Due to the reporting mechanism used for births and deaths, monthly totals may be significantly under reported.