Build a State-based Pesticide Surveillance Program

Getting started

The following documents can help states build a pesticide surveillance program. By following these guidelines, the data collected will be comparable across states.

The documents and free software program were created to help states collect and manage the information needed to participate in the SENSOR-Pesticides program, if they choose to.

Health departments who are interested in participating in SENSOR-Pesticides program may contact CDC INFO.

Documents

• How-to Guide for Developing a State-based Surveillance Program DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2006-102 (2006)
• Case Definition for Acute Pesticide-Related Illness and Injury
  • Appendix 1: Frequently Asked Questions about the Case Definition
  • Appendix 2: Signs and Symptoms for Several Pesticides

• Severity Index for Acute Pesticide-Related Illness and Injury
• Flow Diagram for Assigning Severity to Cases
• Table of Signs and Symptoms by Severity Category
• Standardized Variables (2020)
• Standardized Variables (Historical)

Free software for data collection

SENSOR-Pesticide Incident Data Entry Reporting Software (SPIDER)

The free SPIDER software was created for the states to enter their pesticide-related illness data. It ensures the data are standardized and that the proper information is collected, managed, and reported for acute pesticide-related illness surveillance.

Collecting detailed information on each case of acute pesticide-related illness can be used to better understand these exposures and how we can prevent them. We can better understand the root causes of pesticide poisoning events if we know:

• the pesticide product responsible for the illness
• where it was used
• how it was applied

See the data dictionary of standardized variables used by the SENSOR-Pesticides program and in SPIDER: Standardized Variables for Surveillance Database