Norovirus Surveillance Is Enhanced by a Network

Outbreaks of norovirus, the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in the U.S., have been tracked by the CDC through reports from state health departments via the National Outbreak Reporting System (NORS) and from clinical microbiology laboratories via CaliciNet. In 2012, to enhance the speed and completeness of norovirus outbreak reporting, the CDC introduced Norovirus Sentinel Testing and Tracking (NoroSTAT) — a collaborative network designed to establish standard norovirus reporting practices to NORS and CaliciNet — in five test states (Minnesota, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee, and Wisconsin).

In the 3 years following implementation of NoroSTAT, compared to the 3 years before, the five states significantly reduced the reporting time to NORS (fr…