Create a New Non-Human Case

When adding a new non-human case, enter information in the Patient Information, Demographics, and Investigation, or complete an existing supplemental form. Health care providers and electronic health records can also be used to add new cases.

To create a new non-human case, first click the Home > Investigations tab, then click the New button. Select the Animal Investigation option from the New Investigation drop-down list. The Animal Search Criteria section opens at the bottom of the page. Enter the information and click Search. Click the X button to return to the main Investigations tab page.

The available fields and options on the Animal Search Criteria page are as follows:

Field/Option	Description
Animal Species	Select the animal species related to the non-human case. Examples: Bat, Cat, Dog.
Tag Number	If this is a non-human West Nile Virus case, enter the numeric ID number.
Tag Number Type	Select one of the following types of tag number from the drop-down list: Avian Lab ID Mosquito Veterinary
Referral Date (From/To)	Enter the From and To dates to search for the date range or click in the field to use the calendar pop-up. Today's date is the default date.
County/Borough	Select one or more counties from the list. Click the scroll arrows to view the list. To add an item to the Selected Items box, click the plus sign (+) (located to the right of the choice). The selected county/borough is moved from the Unselected Items box to the Selected Items box. To remove an item from the Selected Items box, click the minus sign (-). The selected county/borough is removed from the Selected Items box and placed back into the Unselected Items box.

After clicking Search, the application searches all cases for a matching First Name and Last Name before allowing a new case to be added. The Possible Animal Case Matches page opens with one of the following search results:

The available fields, options, and buttons on the Possible Animal Case Matches page are as follows:

Field/Option/Button	Description
Create New Case	Click this button to create a new non-human case.
Search	Enter the first few characters of the search name or date. The list automatically filters based on what is entered in the field.
Investigation ID	The unique, system-generated ID that is automatically assigned to the investigation.
Investigation Status	The status of the investigation.
Disease	The name of the disease.
Tag Number	The numeric ID for non-human West Nile virus cases.
Animal Species	The species of the animal.
Tag Type	The tag type of the animal.
Referral Date	The system date when the case was entered into the system.
Investigator First Name	The first name of the investigator.
Investigator Last Name	The last name of the investigator.
Jurisdiction	The area or region of the investigator. The investigator and jurisdiction assignment takes place internally in Sentinel.
Edit	Click this button to edit the existing displayed case information. See View/Edit Case Details.

After clicking Create New Case button, the Create New Non-Human Case page opens. Enter at least the required fields and click Save & Finish. Sentinel validates the entries before allowing you to continue. See Tips for Correcting Validation Errors. The Case Reporting tab page or the main Investigations tab page opens, depending on the disease selected in the Disease Name field.

The Case Reporting tab opens with the case information entered on the Create New Non-Human Case page. You can enter the following information on the following tabs:

Enter any other information on any of the tab pages and click Submit Changes. See View/Edit Case Details.

The main Investigations tab page opens if the disease selected in the Disease Name field is read-only. The case appears in the case list, but you cannot view or edit the case details for that disease. See Program Group Management for the required view or edit permissions.

The available fields, options, and buttons on the Create New Non-Human Case page are as follows:

To display this section on the Create New Non-Human Case page, click the header.

Field/Option/Button	Description
Case Def	Click this button to open the disease information in another browser tab or window. It displays the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) or other source information, such as Red Book Online. This button is enabled only when the Disease Name field in the Investigation Information section is selected.
Animal Name	Enter the name of the animal.

To display this section on the Create New Non-Human Case page, click the header.

Field/Option/Button	Description
Sex *	Select the animal's gender from the drop-down list. Examples: Female, Male, Not Reported, Other, Transsexual, Unknown. This field is required.

To display this section on the Create New Non-Human Case page, click the header.

Field/Option/Button

Description

Date of Birth

If applicable, enter the animal's birthdate or click in the field and select a date from the calendar pop-up. Today's date is the default date. If animal's birthdate is not available, use the Age and Age Unit fields instead.

Age

Enter the number of days, months, weeks, or years for the animal's age.

Age Units

Select the animal's age unit from the drop-down list.

NOTE: If you enter a birthdate, Sentinel calculates the Age and Age Unit as follows:

Age Unit = Days if the current date is less than a calendar month after the Date of Birth
Age Unit = Months if the current date is less than two years after the Date of Birth
Age Unit = Years if the current date is two years or more after the Date of Birth

If you do not know the Date of Birth, you can leave the field empty and manually enter an Age and Age Unit. When you manually enter an Age, the value does not vary over time since it does not reflect the exact age of the animal.

To display this section on the Create New Non-Human Case page, click the header.

Field/Option

Description

Street1

Enter the first line of the animal's street address.

Street2

If applicable, enter the second line of the animal's street address.

State

Select the animal's state from the drop-down list.

NOTE: If the state is changed, the City, Zip and County/Borough fields are cleared. If the state is not the customer’s state, the County/Borough is disabled. If County/Borough is changed, the City and Zip fields are cleared.

City

Enter the animal's city. First, select a state, and then type the first four letters of the city name; a pop-up list of city names and zip codes appears. Select the city name and zip code from the list. The City, Zip, and County/Borough code fields are populated with the stored information.

Zip

Enter the animal's zip code. This field is automatically populated by selecting the City field.

County/Borough

Select the county/borough from the drop-down list (select the state first).

Home Phone

Enter the animal's home phone number.

Ext

If applicable, enter the animal's home phone number extension.

Work Phone

Enter the animal's work phone number.

Ext

If applicable, enter the animal's work phone number extension.

To display this section on the Create New Non-Human Case page, click the header.

Field

Description

Disease Name *

Select the name of the disease from the drop-down list. After selecting a Disease Name and saving the case information, Sentinel retrieves the Disease Group (to which the Disease Name belongs) from its system reference tables. This field is required.

Died Due to This Condition

Select one of the following options to indicate whether the animal died due to this condition. The default is set to Unknown.

No
Unknown
Yes

Date of Death

If the Died Due To This Condition field contains Yes, then the Date of Death field must have an entry; otherwise, this field is disabled. Enter the date or click in the field and select a date from the calendar pop-up. Today's date is default date.

NOTE: If the Died Due To This Condition field is set to Yes and then set to No, the Date of Death field is cleared and disabled.

Case Classification *

Select the case classification, which is based on set definitions and criteria to determine evidence of disease, from the drop-down list. This field is expected to be resolved to Confirmed or Not a Case as a result of the investigation. A more detailed discussion of case status is available within the CDC Case Definitions. This field is required.
Available options are:

Confirmed - It has been determined that the animal has this disease. Once the investigation is complete (the Investigation Status is set to Completed or Closed), this case is reported to the CDC
Probable - This is an initial indicator that the animal is likely to have this disease and further investigation is warranted
Suspect - This is an initial indicator that the animal may have this disease and further investigation is warranted
Deleted
Lost to Follow up
Not a Case - It has been determined that the animal does not have this disease. This case will not be reported to the CDC
Unknown - The person making the referral could not determine the likeliness of the animal having this disease. Follow-up is warranted

Case Type *

Displays the case type: Human or Non-Human. This field is automatically populated. This is a read-only field.

To display this section on the Create New Non-Human Case page, click the header.

Field

Description

Onset Date

Enter the date or click in the field and select a date from the calendar pop-up. This is the date the symptoms of this disease first appeared. Today's date is the default date.

NOTE: The case Onset Date is related to other fields within Sentinel, specifically the Address To and From dates and the animal's age.

Sentinel attempts to determine the animal's age at disease onset. Therefore, the animal's age is not their current age and changes to the Onset Date can result in changes to the age. If a change in the Onset Date results in the age dropping below 18 years, Sentinel requires the parent/guardian information to be supplied
Onset date also plays a key role in determining the investigation address. The Address To and From dates are compared to the Onset Date to verify that the address is valid for the duration of the case investigation. If a change is made to the Onset Date that would result in invalid address information, the case could be referred to another investigator
Case assignment is based on the investigation address at the Onset Date (or the Date Received if the Onset Date is unavailable). Changes to Onset Date can result in case referral to another investigator

Diagnosis Date

Enter the date the case was diagnosed or click in the field and select the date from the calendar pop-up. Today's date is the default date.

Referral Date

If you need to change the referral date, enter the date or click in the field and select the date from the calendar pop-up. The default date is set to the system date at the time of the case entry. This field is required.

MMWR Week

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) publication week when the case was created. Sentinel calculates the MMWR week value based on the Event Date value. This is a read-only field.

MMWR Year

The Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) publication year when the case was created. Sentinel calculates the MMWR year value based on the Event Date value. This is a read-only field.

To display this section on the Create New Non-Human Case page, click the header.

Field/Option	Description
Outbreak Y/N	Select No, Unknown, or Yes to indicate whether the condition is associated with an outbreak or not. The default value is Unknown.
Outbreak Name	If the Outbreak Y/N field is set to Yes, select the name of the outbreak from the drop-down list.
Outbreak ID	The user-defined number assigned to an Outbreak that associates a case to the Outbreak. This is a read-only field. Example: For multiple cases related to a Food borne Outbreak (in the OMS application), you may enter an outbreak number of 100 for each one. Afterward, when an epidemiologist searches for all the cases related to outbreak number 100, all related cases are returned.

To display this section on the Create New Non-Human Case page, click the header.

Field/Option	Description
Animal Species *	Select the animal species related to the non-human case. Examples: Bat, Cat, Dog. This field is required.
Tag Number *	Enter the numeric ID for non-human West Nile Virus cases. This field is required.
Tag Number Type *	Select one of the following types of tag number from the drop-down list. This field is required if you enter a value in the Tag Number field. Avian Lab ID Mosquito Veterinary
Location	Enter the location where the animal was encountered. Example: Treetop, backyard etc. For animal rabies cases, location may be where the rabid animal was seen.

Before saving a new case in the database, Sentinel performs a series of background processes before the main Investigations tab page opens with the new case added to the case list. See Sentinel Background Processing.