TY - JOUR AU - Kelly, Tara AU - O’Lorcain, Piaras AU - Moran, Joanne AU - Garvey, Patricia AU - McKeown, Paul AU - Connell, Jeff AU - Cotter, Suzanne T1 - Underreporting of Viral Encephalitis and Viral Meningitis, Ireland, 2005–2008 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2013 VL - 19 IS - 9 SP - 1428 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Viral encephalitis (VE) and viral meningitis (VM) have been notifiable infectious diseases under surveillance in the Republic of Ireland since 1981. Laboratories have reported confirmed cases by detection of viral nucleic acid in cerebrospinal fluid since 2004. To determine the prevalence of these diseases in Ireland during 2005–2008, we analyzed 3 data sources: Hospital In-patient Enquiry data (from hospitalized following patients discharge) accessed through Health Intelligence Ireland, laboratory confirmations from the National Virus Reference Laboratory, and events from the Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting surveillance system. We found that the national surveillance system underestimates the incidence of these diseases in Ireland with a 10-fold higher VE hospitalization rate and 3-fold higher VM hospitalization rate than the reporting rate. Herpesviruses were responsible for most specified VE and enteroviruses for most specified VM from all 3 sources. Recommendations from this study have been implemented to improve the surveillance of these diseases in Ireland. KW - Viral encephalitis KW - viral meningitis KW - aseptic meningitis KW - viruses KW - herpesviruses KW - varicella-zoster KW - enterovirus KW - ICD-10 KW - surveillance KW - disease notification KW - hospitalization KW - Ireland DO - 10.3201/eid1909.130201 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/19/9/13-0201_article ER - End of Reference