OBJECTIVETo analyze and further improvement the application of the China Infectious Diseases Automated-alert and Response System (CIDARS) in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

METHODSResults related to the amount of signal, proportion of signal responded, time to signal response, manner of signal verification and on each signal of Guangxi in CIDARS from 2009 to 2011 were described. Performance was compared between the periods of pre/ post the adjustment of parameters in CIDARS on December 10, 2010.

RESULTSA total of 29 788 signals were generated on 16 infectious diseases in the system in Guangxi. 100% signals had been responded with the median time to response as 1.5 hours. The average amount of signal per county per week was 1.7;with 624 signals(2.09%)verified as suspected outbreaks preliminarily and 191 outbreaks of 9 diseases were finally confirmed by further field investigation. The sensitivity of CIDARS was 89.25% , and the timeliness of detection was 2.8 d. After adjusting the parameter of CIDARS, the number of signals reduced, and the sensitivity and timeliness of detection improved for most of the diseases.

CONCLUSIONThe signals of CIDARS were responded timely, and the performance of CIDARS might be improved by adjusting the parameters of early-warning model, which helped enhance the ability of outbreaks-detection for local public health departments. However the current proportion of false positive signals still seemed to be high, suggesting that both the methods and parameters should be improved, according to the characteristics of different diseases.