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Uzicanin Amra

Description

During an influenza pandemic, when hospitals and doctors'™ offices are or are perceived to be overwhelmed, many ill people may not seek medical care. People may also avoid medical facilities due to fear of contracting influenza or transmitting it to others. Therefore, syndromic methods for monitoring illness outside of health care settings are important adjuncts to traditional disease reporting. Monitoring absenteeism trends in schools and workplaces provide the archetypal examples for such approaches. NIOSH's early experience with workplace absenteeism surveillance during the 2009 - 2010 H1N1 pandemic established that workplace absenteeism correlates well with the occurrence of influenza-like illness (ILI) and significant increases in absenteeism can signal concomitant peaks in disease activity. It also demonstrated that, while population-based absenteeism surveillance using nationally representative survey data is not as timely, it is more valid and reliable than surveillance based on data from sentinel worksites.1 In 2017, NIOSH implemented population-based, monthly surveillance of health-related workplace absenteeism among full-time workers.

Objective: To describe the methodology of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) system for national surveillance of health-related workplace absenteeism among full-time workers in the United States and to present initial findings from October through July of the 2017 - 2018 influenza season.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Coordinated proactive school closures can help to reduce disease transmission in communities during an influenza pandemic; however, limited information is available about effects of school closures during influenza-like illness (ILI) outbreaks. A rural school district (District A) in Kentucky was closed during January 29-February 1, 2013, in response to an increase in ILI-related student absenteeism.

Objective

We investigated effects of this closure by comparing self-reported illness among household members of students enrolled in District A with 2 adjacent districts (Districts B and C) that remained open during that period.

Submitted by knowledge_repo… on
Description

Timely and effective public health decision-making for control and prevention of acute respiratory infectious diseases relies on early disease detection, pathogen properties, and information on contact behavior affecting transmission. However, data on contact behavior are currently limited, and when available are commonly obtained from traditional self-reported contact surveys. Information for contacts among school-aged children is especially limited, even though children frequently have higher attack rates than adults, and school-related transmission is commonly predictive of subsequent community-wide outbreaks, especially for pandemic influenza.

Within this context, high-quality data are needed about social contacts. Precise contact estimates can be used in mathematical models to understand infectious disease transmission and better target surveillance efforts. Here we report preliminary data from an ongoing 2- year study to collect social contact data on school-aged children and examine the transmission dynamics of an influenza pandemic.

 

Objective

To enhance public health surveillance and response for acute respiratory infectious diseases by understanding social contacts among school-aged children

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on
Description

Transmission and amplification of influenza within schools has been purported as a driving mechanism for subsequent outbreaks in surrounding communities. However, the number of studies assessing the utility of monitoring school absenteeism as an indicator of influenza in the community is limited. ORCHARDS was initiated to evaluate the relationships between all-cause (a-Tot), illness-related (a-I), and influenza-like illness (ILI)-related absenteeism (a-ILI) within a school district and medically attended influenza A or B visits within the same community.

Objective:

The Oregon Child Absenteeism due to Respiratory Disease Study (ORCHARDS) was implemented to assess the relationships between cause-specific absenteeism within a school district and medically attended influenza visits within the same community.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Decreasing contact between infectious and susceptible people in community settings may reduce influenza transmission. Examining the temporal relationship between the winter holiday break and seasonal influenza activity can provide insight of alternative contact patterns on influenza spread.

Objective

To explore the relationship between influenza-like illness observed by influenza out-patient network and winter holiday breaks in US.

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on
Description

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends implementing early targeted school closures as one of the front-line interventions to slow progression of a severe influenza pandemic before appropriate vaccine becomes available. However, prolonged school closures may impose unintended economic and social costs and consequences to students’ families. These costs and consequences have not been carefully evaluated. To better understand this unintended impact, we conducted five investigations of unplanned school closures lasting >=4 school days implemented for various reasons from August 2012 through May 2013. Each closure was investigated separately as a public health evaluation. School closures implemented for reasons other than pandemic influenza may serve as a proxy to pandemic-related closures. Our findings can inform updates to CDC’s pandemic preparedness guidance.

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on
Description

School children are the primary introducers and significant transmission sources of influenza virus among their families and surrounding communities [1,2]. Therefore, schools play an important role in amplifying influenza transmission in communities. Using school-related data sources may be an informative addition to existing influenza surveillance. Unplanned school closures (USCs) are common, occur frequently for various reasons, and affect millions of students across the country [3]. Information about USCs is publicly available in real-time. For this study, we evaluated usability of applying USC data for ILI surveillance.

Objective

Evaluate usability of alternative data sources, such as public announcements of unplanned school closures, for additional insight regarding influenza-like illness (ILI) activity.

Submitted by Magou on
Description

School-based influenza surveillance has been considered for real-time monitoring of influenza, as children 5-17 years old play an important role in community-level transmission.

Objective

To determine if all-cause and cause-specific school absences improve predictions of virologically confirmed influenza in the community.

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on