Standard Case Definitions for the Diseases under Surveillance in

Ethiopia

S.No DISEASE Standard Case Definition

AIDS new Any person who meets the national AIDS case definition (see the
1
cases National Guideline for HIV/AIDS surveillance)
Any person 5 years of age or more who develops severe
2 Cholera
dehydration or dies from acute watery diarrhea.
Diarrhea with some dehydration is defined as any child less than
5 years of age with diarrhea and two or more of the following:
restless or irritable, sunken eyes, drinks eagerly, thirsty, and skin
Diarrhea in
pinch goes back slowly.
children less
3
than 5 years of
Diarrhea with severe dehydration is defined as any child less
age
than 5 years of age with diarrhea and two or more of the
following: lethargic or unconscious, sunken eyes, not able to
drink or drinking poorly and skin pinch goes back very slowly.
Diarrhea with
4 Any person with diarrhea and visible blood in the stool.
blood (Shigella)
Any person with a history of skin lesion and emergence of
5 Dracunculiasis
Guinea worm within one year of the skin lesion.
Sudden onset of headache, chills, prostration, fever and general
Epidemic pains possibly with macular eruption that initially appear on the
6
Typhus trunk followed by a spread to other body parts except the face,
the soles and palms
A case of leprosy is a person showing one of the following
cardinal signs: hypopigmented or reddish skin lesion(s) with
definite loss of sensation; definitively enlarged nerves at the sites
7 Leprosy of predilection and/or damage to the peripheral nerves, as
demonstrated by loss of sensation and weakness of the muscles
of hands, feet or face; and presence of AFB positive skin
smears.
 Uncomplicated malaria: Any person with fever or fever with
headache, back pain, chills, sweats, myalgia, nausea and
vomiting diagnosed clinically as malaria.

Confirmed uncomplicated malaria: Any person with fever or fever

with headache, back pain, chills, sweats, myalgia, nausea and
vomiting and with laboratory confirmation of diagnosis by malaria
blood film or other diagnostic test for malaria parasites.
8 Malaria

Malaria with severe anaemia: Any child 2 months up to 5 years

with malaria and, if an outpatient, with severe palmar pallor, or if
an inpatient, with a laboratory test confirming severe anemia.

Severe malaria: Any person hospitalized with a primary

diagnosis of malaria and confirmed by a positive blood smear or
other diagnostic test for malaria.
Any person with fever and maculopapular (non-vesicular)
generalized rash and cough, coryza or conjunctivitis (red eyes)
9 Measles
or any person in whom a clinician suspects measles. A measles
death is a death occurring within 30 days of onset of the rash.
Any person with sudden onset of fever (>38.5 oc rectal or 38.0oc
10 Meningitis axillary) and one of the following signs: neck stiffness, altered
consciousness or other meningeal signs.
Any newborn with a normal ability to suck or cry during the first
Neonatal
11 two days of life, and who, between 3 and 28 days of age, cannot
tetanus
suck normally and becomes still or has convulsions or both.
In an endemic area, any person with fibrous nodules in
12 Onchocerciasis
subcutaneous tissues.
Any person with sudden onset of fever, chills, headache, severe
malaise, prostration, and very painful swelling of lymph nodes, or
13 Plague
cough with blood-stained sputum, chest pain, and difficulty in
breathing.
14 Polio Any child less than 15 years of age with AFP or a person of any
 age in whom the clinician suspects polio.

Pneumonia: Any child aged 2 months up to 5 years of age with

cough or difficult breathing and breathing 50 breaths or more per
minute in an infant 2 months up to 1 year; breathing 40 breaths
or more per minute for a child aged 1 to 5 years; (Infants less
Pneumonia in than 2 months with fast breathing 60 breaths or more per minute
children less are referred for serious bacterial infection.)
15
than 5 years of
age
Severe Pneumonia: Any child age 2 months up to 5 years with
cough or difficult breathing, and with any general danger sign, or
chest indrawing, or stridor in a calm child. General danger signs
are: unable to drink or breast-feed, vomits everything,
convulsions, lethargy or unconsciousness.
Relapsing
16 Fever lasting 2-9 days and with afebrile period of 2-4 days.
Fever
Smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis: Any patient with cough
for 3 weeks or more and: at least 2 sputum specimens positive
for acid-fast bacilli by microscopy, or 1 sputum specimen smear
positive for acid-fast bacilli and radiographic abnormalities
17 Tuberculosis
consistent with active pulmonary tuberculosis as determined by
the treating medical officer, or one sputum specimen smear
positive for acid-fast bacilli and one sputum specimen culture
positive for acid-fast bacilli.
Fever, chills, gradually increasing and persisting headache, rash,
18 Typhoid fever abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, delirium, and
prostration.
19 Sexually Genital ulcer syndrome (non-vesicular) : Any male with an ulcer
transmitted on the penis, scrotum, or rectum, with or without inguinal
infections adenopathy, or any female with ulcer on labia, vagina, or rectum,
(STIs) with or without inguinal adenopathy.

Urethral discharge syndrome: any male with urethral discharge

 with or without dysuria.
Viral Any person with severe illness, fever, and at least one of the
20 hemorrhagic following signs: bloody stools, vomiting blood, or unexplained
fevers bleeding from gums, nose, vagina, skin or eyes.
Any person with sudden onset of high fever (>39 C rectal or
21 Yellow fever 380C axillary), followed by jaundice within two weeks of onset of
first symptoms.