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  1. Case Definitions/

Open Syndrome Cholera

Authors: Ministry of Health

Location: Ghana

Purpose #

Case definition for suspected case of cholera

The definition #

In a patient age 5 years or more, severe dehydration or death from acute watery diarrhoea (rice water stool). If there is a cholera epidemic, a suspected case is a person age 5 years or more with acute watery diarrhoea, with or without vomiting.

Machine-readable definition #

The definition is available in JSON format following the Open Syndrome v1.0 specification:

{
   "category": "suspected",
   "definition_type": "case_definition",
   "description": "Case definition for suspected case of cholera",
   "human_readable_definition": "In a patient age 5 years or more, severe dehydration or death from acute watery diarrhoea\n(rice water stool).\nIf there is a cholera epidemic, a suspected case is a person age 5 years or more with acute\nwatery diarrhoea, with or without vomiting.",
   "inclusion_criteria": [
     {
       "logical_operator": "AND",
       "type": "criterion",
       "values": [
         {
           "attribute": "age",
           "name": "5 years old or more",
           "operator": "\u003e=",
           "type": "demographic_criteria",
           "unit": "years",
           "value": 5
         },
         {
           "name": "Acute watery diarrhea",
           "type": "symptom"
         }
       ]
     }
   ],
   "keywords": [
     "Cholera",
     "Africa"
   ],
   "language": "English",
   "location": "Ghana",
   "notes": [
     "If there is a cholera epidemic, a suspected case is a person age 5 years or more with acute watery diarrhoea, with or without vomiting."
   ],
   "open_syndrome_version": "1.0.0",
   "organization": "Ministry of Health",
   "published_at": "2025-01-29T12:00:00Z",
   "published_by": [
     "Open Syndrome Initiative"
   ],
   "published_in": "https://opensyndrome.org",
   "references": [
     {
       "url": "https://www.moh.gov.gh/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Integrated-Disease-Surveillance-and-Response-Ghana-Guidelines.pdf"
     }
   ],
   "scope": "broad",
   "status": "draft",
   "target_public_health_threats": [
     "Cholera"
   ],
   "title": "Open Syndrome Cholera",
   "version": "1.0.0"
 }

Using the Definition #

Healthcare organizations can implement this definition through:

  • Direct integration with surveillance systems
  • API endpoints for real-time validation
  • Manual case verification processes

Next Steps #

We encourage:

  • Clinical feedback on the definition criteria
  • Technical feedback on the implementation format
  • Suggestions for additional symptoms or signs
  • Reports of implementation experiences

Get Involved #

We welcome contributions and feedback from the community.