Animal bite surveillance using ED visit data may vary by public health agency due to syndromic surveillance system capabilities, availability of ICD-9-CM codes, and the desired balance of surveillance sensitivity and specificity. However, ICD-9-CM final diagnosis codes and E-codes are considered part of a minimum dataset for syndromic surveillance systems using ED visit data.2 Therefore, we encourage agencies that collect this data element to consider using animal bite-related ICD-9-CM E-codes in addition to chief complaint keyword searches for identification of animal bite-related ED visits.
