US Disease Tracker Documentation¶
Welcome to the US Disease Tracker Documentation site. This repository houses the data standards, templates, examples, and validation documentation for the US Disease Tracker project.
Version 2.0.0 (updated 2026-05-18)
- Expanded supported diseases across documentation, templates, and the data standards tool.
- Updated disease-specific validation guidance for
confirmation_statusanddisease_subtype. - Harmonized metadata and dictionary values for the newly supported diseases.
About The US Disease Tracker¶
The goal of the US Disease Tracker is to provide consolidated epidemiologically sound data, analytics, and insights for monitoring and responding to disease threats across the United States. This project aims to produce data that are as standardized as possible, while recognizing individual variations in how and when data are collected and made available to participating health departments.
Data are reported by jurisdictions to USDT weekly on Thursdays, with new data published on Fridays.
Note: Data are not yet public for USDT. When data become public, usdiseasetracker.org will be redirected to the dashboard, rather than this documentation website.
Our Key Principles are:
- Provision of data is voluntary.
- Only aggregate data will be collected to minimize the risk of reidentification.
- Data are be updated and back-populated on a regular basis, acknowledging that recent data may be incomplete as investigations proceed. Records of prior versions will be maintained.
- We do not suppress or manipulate data once received; jurisdictions should submit data in manner in accordance with heir data release policies.
Quick Reference¶
Interactive Tool!
USDT Data Standards Tool - Interactive tool to explore valid data field options and generate example data
🦠Current Diseases Collected¶
| Disease | Time Aggregation | Confirmation Status | Outcomes | Age groups | Disease Subtypes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measles | Weekly | Confirmed only | Cases | multiple | not collected |
| Pertussis | Weekly | Confirmed and probable (combined) | Cases | multiple | not collected |
| Invasive Meningococcal Disease | Weekly | Confirmed and probable (combined) | Cases | multiple | collected |
| Hepatitis A | Weekly | Confirmed only | Cases | multiple | not collected |
| Acute Hepatitis B | Weekly | Confirmed and probable (combined) | Cases | multiple | not collected |
| Perinatal Hepatitis B | Weekly | Confirmed only | Cases | not collected | not collected |
| Mumps | Weekly | Confirmed and probable (combined) | Cases | multiple | not collected |
| Mpox | Weekly | Confirmed and probable (combined) | Cases | multiple | not collected |
| Varicella | Weekly | Confirmed and probable (combined) | Cases | multiple | not collected |
| Influenza-Associated Pediatric Mortality | Weekly | Confirmed only | Deaths | multiple | not collected |
| Click column name to go to more detailed documentation on each field. |
📚 Guides and Specifications¶
- Data Submission Guide - High-level overview of what and when to submit
- Data Technical Specifications - Detailed field specifications and requirements
- Data Transfer Guide - Technical transfer methods
- Validation Rules - Data validation requirements
📄 Templates and Examples¶
- Data submission template
- Example data file
- Data dictionary (CSV) - Reference table of all fields and valid values
- Jurisdiction specification example - Example format for sharing sub-jurisdiction geographies, particularly for jurisdictions reporting geographies other than county.
Data Validation¶
Data are validated upon submission for completeness, format, and errors. See the Validation Rules for detailed validation requirements. Data can be submitted to the dashboard at any time to check the validation.
To check what combinations of values are valid, check out the USDT Data Standards Tool.
The USDiseaseTracker-Docs Repository¶
This repository houses the data standards, templates, examples, and validation documentation for the US Disease Tracker. It provides a centralized location for standardized formats and guidelines for disease surveillance data. The goal of this repository is to establish the processes, standards, and data formats that will enable construction of a consolidated database and dashboard to track infectious diseases across the US in real-time.
While we aim to limit changes once data standards and processes are established, they may change intermittently as this project evolves, including adding new diseases, modifying data elements, and adding features. All changes will be reflected and described here.
This repository is organized as follows:
guides/- Documentation guides (data-submission-guide.md, data-technical-specs.md, etc.)examples-and-templates/- Data templates, examples, and the data dictionarydata_standards_tool/- Interactive data standards toolscripts/- Validation scripts and schema generatorsdocs/- MkDocs documentation source files (website content)
Contributing¶
We welcome contributions to the data standards! Please see our Contributing Guide for detailed instructions.
License¶
This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. See LICENSE for details.