Reportable Medical Events, Military Health System Facilities, Week 22, Ending June 3, 2023

Image of Article 6 cover. Graph depicting the frequency of the five most common reportable medical events within the Military Health System over the preceding year.

Reportable Medical Events are documented in the Disease Reporting System internet by health care providers and public health officials across the Military Health System for the purpose of monitoring, controlling, and preventing the occurrence and spread of diseases of public health interest or readiness importance. These reports are reviewed by each service’s public health surveillance hub. The DRSi collects reports on over 70 different RMEs, including infectious and non-infectious conditions, outbreak reports, STI risk surveys, and tuberculosis contact investigation reports. A complete list of RMEs is available in the 2022 Armed Forces Reportable Medical Events Guidelines and Case Definitions.1 Data reported in these tables are considered provisional and do not represent conclusive evidence until case reports are fully validated.

Click on the Table to access a 508-compliant version

Total active component cases reported per week are displayed for the top five RMEs for the previous year. Each month, the graph is updated with the top five RMEs, and is presented with the current month’s (May 2023) top five RMEs, which may differ from previous months. COVID-19 is excluded from these graphs due to changes in reporting/case definition updates in 2023.

This graph of 5 lines on the x-, or horizontal, axis depicts case counts for the 5 most frequent reportable medical conditions among active component service members during the past 52 weeks. Chlamydia was the most common reportable medical condition, with counts of approximately 300 cases per week. Gonorrhea was the second-most common reported disease, averaging approximately 80 cases per week. Gonorrhea was surpassed by heat illnesses in weeks 24, 27, 29, and 30 of 2022, and by norovirus in week 7 of 2023. Syphilis and heat illnesses alternated as the third and fourth most-common reported diseases, with case counts averaging approximately 20 per week. Norovirus rounded out the top 5, averaging between 1 and 8 cases per week.

References

  1. Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division. Armed Forces Reportable Medical Events. Accessed April 6, 2023. https://www.health.mil/Military-Health-Topics/Health-Readiness/AFHSD/Reports-and-Publications/Armed-Forces-Reportable-Medical-Events
  2. Defense Manpower Data Center. Department of Defense Active Duty Military Personnel by Rank/Grade of Service, October 31, 2022. https://dwp.dmdc.osd.mil/dwp/app/dod-data-reports/workforce-reports
  3. Defense Manpower Data Center. Armed Forces Strength Figures for January 31, 2023. https://dwp.dmdc.osd.mil/dwp/app/dod-data-reports/workforce-reports
  4. Navy Medicine. Surveillance and Reporting Tools–DRSI: Disease Reporting System Internet. https://www.med.navy.mil/Navy-Marine-Corps-Public-Health-Center/Preventive-Medicine/Program-and-Policy-Support/Disease-Surveillance/DRSI

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