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Hansen's Disease Case Definition, Reporting, and Surveillance

Key points

Hansen’s disease, also known as leprosy, is a nationally notifiable condition. CDC and health departments use a standardized case definition to track Hansen’s disease in the United States. CDC publishes weekly and annual surveillance data in the Notifiable Infectious Disease Data Tables.

Case definition

The Hansen's disease surveillance case definition provides a set of consistent criteria used to define the disease for public health surveillance and reporting. Surveillance case definitions enable public health officials to classify and count cases based on the same criteria across reporting jurisdictions. Surveillance case definitions are not intended for healthcare providers when making a clinical diagnosis or determining how to meet an individual patient's health needs.

Reporting criteria

National-level monitoring of notifiable conditions helps protect the health of the nation. Information from surveillance notifications shared by health departments can be used to better understand where and how much disease is occurring as well as determine the best strategies to prevent and response to the illness.

Local laws and regulations specify which diseases and conditions must be reported. In jurisdictions where Hansen's disease is reportable, healthcare providers, hospitals, or laboratories must report Hansen's disease cases to their local health departments. Specific requirements for who must report cases and when to report vary by jurisdiction.

Case notification

The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) designates Hansen's disease as a nationally notifiable condition. If a patient meets probable or confirmed case criteria for Hansen's disease, CSTE requests that information about the patient and disease be submitted to CDC.

Reporting methods

Health departments should report general information about the patient and disease to CDC through the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS) using National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance (NETSS) messages or the generic message mapping guide.

Health departments may also report Hansen's disease to the CDC using the Leprosy Case Report Form that can be completed electronically. Completed forms can be securely emailed or faxed to CDC through the contacts listed on the form. Jurisdictional health departments can directly report cases via DCIPHER through Secure Access Management Services (SAMS) credentialing. To request DCIPHER access, for more information about the system, or for other surveillance-related questions, health departments can contact CDC's Bacterial Special Pathogens Branch at bspb@cdc.gov.

CDC surveillance data

Weekly and annual surveillance data for Hansen's disease cases are published in the NNDSS notifiable infectious disease data tables.