The infectious disease surveillance system in Japan mainly consists of (1) pathogen reporting (laboratory-based surveillance) and (2) patient reporting. In the National Epidemiological Surveillance of Infectious Diseases (NESID) Program, information concerning infectious diseases in Japan is collected and published, and occurrence and trends are assessed, based on reporting from physicians and veterinarians. This system of infectious disease surveillance in Japan is pursuant to Articles 12 through 16 of the Act on the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Medical Care for Patients with Infectious Diseases (hereinafter, referred to as the "Infectious Diseases Control Law"), in effect since April 1, 1999. The NESID Program defines appropriate systems to be established, through cooperation from physicians and other healthcare professionals, with the aim of taking effective and adequate measures toward the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases and preventing their occurrence and spread, through the accurate assessment and analysis of infectious disease information, rapid provision and disclosure of the resultant information to the general public and healthcare professionals, verification of the detection status and characteristics of pathogens that are circulating, and formulation of adequate infection control measures, through the collection and analysis of pathogen information. The notifiable disease and sentinel surveillance systems are comprehensive; notifiable disease surveillance consists of seven category I infectious diseases, seven category II infectious diseases, five category III infectious diseases, 44 category IV infectious diseases, and 23 category V infectious diseases. Sentinel surveillance comprehensively includes the sentinel surveillance of influenza, 10 pediatric diseases at sentinel pediatric sites, eight diseases at designated sentinel sites, two diseases at ophthalmology sentinel sites, and four sexually transmitted infections (STI) at STI sentinel sites. In addition, a system of reporting from suspected case sentinel sites was introduced on April 1, 2007, in order to collect information from designated medical facilities in the suspected case stage, before the physician's confirmatory diagnosis, so that the occurrence of an infectious disease can be rapidly identified, including those due to bioterrorism. The revised Infectious Diseases Control Law was proclaimed on November 21, 2013, incorporating the strengthened functions of pathogen information collection.
History of the NESID ProgramIn Japan, the laboratory-based surveillance system was established before a system for patient reporting was introduced. Funded by the national budget, laboratory-based surveillance first began in July 1981 and targeted 18 diseases. In January 1987, an online system was introduced that targeted 27 diseases. In this manner, the Program has been operated with stepwise enhancement and expansion. After the Infectious Diseases Control Law was established in September 1998 and took effect in Ap...