2009 Report of Influenza-Like Illness at Children's Camps

February 2010

Summary

During the 2009 camp season, 1,660 cases of influenza-like illness (ILI) were reported at children's camps in New York State. Cases of illness included 1,311 campers, 341 staff and 8 cases that were neither campers nor staff. ILI is defined as someone having a fever (measured temperature of 100°F or more) and either cough or sore throat.

Sixty-one outbreaks of ILI were reported, which accounted for 1,600 cases (96%) of illness. Fifty of the sixty-one outbreaks occurred at overnight camps and resulted in 1,556 cases of illness (97% of outbreak illness and 94% of all ILI at camps). Outbreaks ranged in size from 2 to 137 cases of illness, averaged 27.2 cases of illness per outbreak, had a median of 11 cases, and a mode of 2. Outbreaks were defined as two or more cases of illness at a camp. It was not necessary to demonstrate a connection between cases. Forty-eight percent of the ILI cases and 49% of the outbreaks were reported with the first three weeks of the season. There were 60 individual cases of illness.

In total, ILI at children's camps was reported in 33 counties (see map). There are approximately 2,861 children's camps in NYS (578 overnight camps and 2,283 day camps) and it is estimated that over 900,000 children attend camp each year. It should be noted that there are approximately 900 day camps in NYC that reported no ILI and 824 cases of ILI were reported in Sullivan County, which has approximately 100 overnight camps (17% of the total number of overnight camps in the state).

Reporting

ILI reporting is mandated by Subpart 7-2 of the State Sanitary Code. Camp operators are required to report illness within 24 hours to the local health department (LHD) that has jurisdiction in the county in which the camp is located. LHDs entered ILI information into an injury and illness database (known as eHIPS) each week. This data system is the source of this information concerning camps. The data was quality checked at the conclusion of the season, which resulted in slight adjustments to the weekly reports (see tables).

The Bureaus of Communicable Disease Control and Community Environmental Health and Food Protection prepared and distributed guidance for identifying and managing cases of ILI at camp. Camp health/medical personnel used the definition provided in the guidance to self-report cases of illness. In many instances, medical providers (physicians, nurses, etc.) were not involved with the diagnosis/categorization of ILI.

Weekly Influenza-Like Illness Reported for New York State Children's Camps
Cases of ILI Reported by Camp Type
  Week of 6/26 Week of 7/3 Week of 7/10 Week of 7/17 Week of 7/24 Week of 7/31 Week of 8/7 Week of 8/14 Week of 8/21 Week of 8/28 Week of 9/4 Final Quality Checked Totals
  Total New Total New Total New Total New Total New Total New Total New Total New Total New Total New Total Adj. Final
Day Camp 0 9 9 14 23 3 26 5 31 12 43 0 42* 9 51 14 65 0 65 2 67 1 68
Overnight Camp 80 122 202 569 771 198 969 156 1125 209 1334 86 1420 97 1517 1 1518 63 1581 0 1581 11 1592
Total 80 131 211 583 794 211 995 161 1156 221 1377 86 1462 106 1568 15 1583 63 1646 2 1648 12 1660
Cases of ILI Reported by Incident Type
Outbreaks 80 129 209 566 775 197 972 152 1124 214 1338 84 1422 103 1525 13 1538 63 1601 0 1601 -1 1600
Single Cases 0 2 2 17 19 4 23 9 32 7 39 1 40 3 43 2 45 0 45 2 47 13 60
Total 80 131 211 583 794 211 995 161 1156 221 1377 85 1462 106 1568 15 1583 63 1646 2 1648 12 1660
Number of Outbreaks
Number of Outbreaks 5 8 13 17 30 5 35 6 41 11 52 3 55 1 56 4 60 1 61 0 61 0 61
* One single case incident was deleted by the reporting Local Health Department