How to use this site
Guidelines for data reporting
General guidelines
NREVSS collects reports by noon on Tuesday each week so that the public website (http://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/) can be updated Tuesday afternoons with the latest data.
You can always report data from previous weeks. Data collected include the number of tests and the number of positive results. We ask that labs report detections of respiratory viruses from respiratory specimens and detections of enteric viruses from enteric specimens. Multiple specimens from the same patient may be reported.
The NREVSS reporting season runs from the first week of July to the last week of June the following year.
Reporting Standard Results
Please report the results of all laboratory tests conducted for each specimen. All Antigen Detection tests, Virus Isolation tests, and PCR tests should be recorded separately, whether or not specimens come from the same individual, For example, if both a PCR and culture are used to test for RSV, this should be recorded on both the Virus Isolation and PCR worksheets regardless of the result.
Reporting Samples Sent to Reference Laboratories
If you are reporting information for samples that are sent to a reference laboratory for additional testing, please send an email to nrevss@cdc.gov to ask a coordinator if that reference laboratory is already contributing data to NREVSS. If the reference lab to which the samples are sent is already contributing data to NREVSS do not report the results of these tests. The purpose of this is to avoid double-counting of results.
Reporting by reference laboratories
If your laboratory is reporting information for samples that are received from laboratories located in states other than your own, please send an email to nrevss@cdc.gov to notify them that your lab is reporting non-local data.
Reporting Sub-typing of Unknown Samples
In the case of sub-typing unknown samples, all confirmed results should be updated accordingly and reporting sheets should reflect these changes For example, if there are initially 50 Unknown Para-influenza virus, PIV, positives for a given week, but after further testing 10 are found to be PIV-1, please go back and edit that particular week’s data to read 10 PIV-1 positive and 40 PIV-unknown positives.
Reporting Confirmation Tests
Oftentimes, select samples are sent to other laboratories for confirmation. If the same test type is used to confirm or contrast the original results, please report only the most up-to-date information. However, if a different method is applied to the same sample, please report the results of both tests separately.
Diagnostic Methods
NREVSS tracks diagnostic methods used by your laboratory for each participating test type (i.e., Antigen Detection, Virus Isolation, and PCR).
Once logged in, choose the Submit Manually feature. There you will notice a blue selection element that is labeled "DROP DOWN MENU WITH MULTIPLE SELECTION POSSIBLE".
Selecting this element allows you to select all diagnostic methods that your laboratory uses.
Please keep these data up-to-date for our audit procedures.
Data validation
The data validation feature can be used to optimize the accuracy of the data submitted to NREVSS. We ask laboratories to periodically check the data submitted to NREVSS against their internal records. Using this simple tool, laboratories can mark which weeks’ data have been reviewed and checked.
Validation can occur as often as the laboratory wishes, but we ask that data be validated at least once every July to ensure the accuracy of the data submitted in the preceding NREVSS reporting season.
Data export
The data export feature allows laboratories to download a file in XLSX (MS Excel 2007) or CSV (comma-separated values) format that contains the data that they have submitted to NREVSS in the current or previous season
Problems with the ODSS
NREVSS does all it can to ensure that the ODSS website runs and is available for laboratories to submit their data at any time. However, issues with the server do sometimes arise that cause the ODSS to go down or lag. The reasons for this are varied and often have to do with bandwidth limitations.
We apologize if you experience these problems, and we encourage you to notify us when they do occur. It would be helpful to us if you specify the nature of the problem, the time of the day that you experienced it, and what the type and version of the web browser that you are using.
If you do experience problems, please try accessing the site at a different time as bandwidth and server issues often resolve themselves in their own time.