Syndromic Surveillance at the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory

The New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (NYSVDL) adopted a new general submission form in 2011, which includes a check list of syndromes as part of the clinical history. This form allows for clinician selected syndromes to be monitored. We found monitoring syndromes, in addition to test requests, to be useful and necessary for accuracy and completeness. The syndromes Sudden Death and Fever were found to always provide additional information and should be monitored. Other syndromes that provide new information should be investigated in various clinical scenarios.