OBJECTIVES: Puerto Rico's 2024-2025 dengue epidemic highlighted the need to understand how complementary surveillance systems capture cases and severity. We compared the Sentinel Enhanced Dengue Surveillance System (SEDSS) and the Passive Arboviral Disease Surveillance System (PADSS) in capturing characteristics of dengue cases during this epidemic and assessed their complementary roles in epidemic monitoring and public health preparedness. METHODS: We analyzed laboratory-confirmed dengue cases reported in SEDSS and PADSS from January 1, 2024, through January 31, 2025. SEDSS recruits at sentinel sites, collecting clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory data, while PADSS relies on clinician-initiated reporting across the island. We used descriptive statistics, cross-correlation analyses, and generalized additive models to compare temporal trends, demographic characteristics, clinical features, and severe dengue outcomes. RESULTS: = .02), likely due to more detailed clinical data, with the highest rates among patients aged 10 to 19 years (16.3%) and <10 years (10.5%). SEDSS captured severe plasma leakage (6.2%), which was not recorded in PADSS. PADSS provided broader geographic coverage. CONCLUSIONS: SEDSS captures detailed clinical data, whereas PADSS provides broader coverage and higher case counts. Integrating both systems strengthens epidemic response, resource allocation, and public health decision-making.
Madewell et al. (Wed,) studied this question.