Table 1. Comparison of reporting times between conventional and electronic reporting and evaluation of reporting coverage.

Pathogen	Average days earliera	Electronic and traditionalb	Electronic onlyc	Total reports	Reporting improvementd
Campylobacter sp.	0.6	10	7	17	70%
Chlamydia trachomatis	2.2e	29	81	110	279%
Cryptosporidium parvum	0.0	1	-	1	-
Escherichia coli O157:H7	0.0	1	2	3	200%
Giardia lamblia	0.0	1	12	13	1,200%
Neisseria gonorrhoeae	0.3	50	48	98	96%
Haemophilus influenzae (invasive)	3.0	3	3	6	100%
Hepatitis A	0.0	1	-	1	-
Hepatitis B	0.5	4	3	7	75%
Hepatitis C	3.6	5	22	27	440%
Influenza	1.2	5	3	8	60%
Group A streptococcal infections (invasive)	2.3f	7	1	8	14%
Borrelia burgdorferi	1.3	4	3	7	75%
Salmonella sp.	2.7f	14	6	20	43%
Shigella sp.	0.0	2	1	3	50%
Streptococcus pneumoniae (invasive, drug-resistant)	8.0	1	-	1	-
Treponema pallidum	0.4	5	21	26	420%
Yersinia sp.	0.0	1	-	1	-

^aAverage days earlier was calculated by comparing the date on which the initial conventional report arrived to the date on which an electronic report was received. Only cases received by both means were used to calculate this value.
^bReports for these cases were received by both conventional means (mail, telephone, fax) and the laboratory information network. All reports received through traditional reporting were also received by the data clearinghouse.
^cReports for these cases were received only through the laboratory information network and are not included in the counts for the “electronic and traditional means” column.
^dReceived electronically only/received through both means x 100.
^eSignificant as determined by Student t test (p<0.05).
^fSignificant as determined by Wilcoxon signed rank (p<0.05).