surveillance (redirected from Surveillence)

sur·veil·lance (sr-vlns)

n.

1. Close observation of a person or group, especially one under suspicion.

2. The act of observing or the condition of being observed.

3. The collection, collation, analysis, and dissemination of data.

4. A type of observational study that involves continuous monitoring of disease occurrence within a population.

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surveillance

keeping a watch over.

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active surveillance

sampling, including necropsy examination, of clinically normal samples of the population; important in the surveillance of diseases in which subclinical cases and carriers predominate.

epidemiological surveillance

watching over a population and recording data likely to have epidemiological significance, usually with the aim of early detection of disease. Essentially an interventionist exercise compared with monitoring, which is passive.

passive surveillance

examination of only clinically affected cases of specified diseases in the population.