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Environmental Health

The incidence of dengue fever (DF) has increased 30 fold between 1960 and 2010. The literature suggests that temperature plays a major role in the life cycle of the mosquito vector and in turn, the timing of DF outbreaks. We use real-time data from GDT and real-time temperature estimates from NASA Earth observing systems to examine the relationship between dengue and climate in 17 Mexican states from 2003–2011. For the majority of states, we predict that a warming climate will increase the number of days the minimum temperature is within the risk range for dengue.

 

Objective

To evaluate the association between Dengue Fever and climate in Mexico with real-time data from Google Dengue Trends and climate data from NASA Earth observing systems.

Submitted by hparton on

The impact of heat on mortality is well documented but deaths tend to lag extreme heat and mortality data is generally not available for timely surveillance during heat waves. Recently, systems for near-real time surveillance of heat illness have been reported but have not been validated as predictors of heat related mortality. In this study, we examined the associations among weather, indicators of heat-related ambulance calls and emergency department visits and excess natural cause mortality in New York City.

 

Objective

To describe the extent to which heat-illness indicators increase with extreme heat and to evaluate the association among daily weather, heat-related illness and natural cause mortality.

Submitted by hparton on

Extreme heat events caused by high environmental temperatures are considered a major cause of weather-related deaths and injury in the United States. These events can result in a spectrum of conditions known as heat-related illnesses (HRIs), which range from minor to life threating symptoms. In Arizona, HRIs account for more than 2,000 emergency room visits and 118 deaths each year. In 2012, there were a total of 1,572 emergency department visits related to HRIs.

Submitted by Anonymous on

Malaria remains a major public health problem in Madagascar. Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) is the adopted strategy for malaria control in the CHs and Fringe regions of Madagascar. Remotely sensed data analysis combined with Multi-Criteria Evaluation become crucial to target priority areas for intervention.

Objective:

Madagascar is one of the low-income countries with limited resources. In order to minimize the cost of the fight against malaria, the main objective of this study is to identify the priority zone for Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS).

Referenced File
Submitted by elamb on

Since 2008, poisoning is the leading cause of injury-related death in the United States; since 1980, the poisoning-related fatality rate in the United States (U.S.) has almost tripled. Many poison-related injuries and deaths are reported to regional PCs which receive about 2.4 million reports of human chemical and poison exposures annually. Federal, state, and local PH agencies often collaborate with PCs and use PC data for PH surveillance to identify poisoning-related health issues. Many state and local PH agencies have partnerships with regional PCs for direct access to local PC data which help them perform this function. At the national level, the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) conducts PH surveillance for exposures and illnesses of PH significance using the National Poison Data System (NPDS), the national PC reporting database and real-time surveillance system. Though most PC and PH officials agree that PC data play an important role in PH practice and surveillance, collaboration between PH agencies and PCs can be hindered by numerous challenges. To address these challenges and bolster collaboration, the PC and PH Collaborations Community of Practice (CoP) has collaborated with members to provide educational webinars; newsletters highlighting the intersection of PH and PC work; and in-person meetings at relevant national and international conferences. The CoP includes over 200 members from state and local PH departments, regional PCs, CDC, the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Objective:

To discuss the use of poison center (PC) data for public health (PH) surveillance at the local, state, and federal levels. To generate meaningful discussion on how to facilitate greater PC and PH collaboration.

Submitted by elamb on

The negative effect of air pollution on human health is well documented illustrating increased risk of respiratory, cardiac and other health conditions. Currently, during air pollution episodes Public Health England (PHE) syndromic surveillance systems provide a near real-time analysis of the health impact of poor air quality. In England, syndromic surveillance has previously been used on an ad hoc basis to monitor health impact; this has usually happened during widespread national air pollution episodes where the air pollution index has reached "High"™ or "Very High"™ levels on the UK Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI). We now aim to undertake a more systematic approach to understanding the utility of syndromic surveillance for monitoring the health impact of air pollution. This would improve our understanding of the sensitivity and specificity of syndromic surveillance systems for contributing to the public health response to acute air pollution incidents; form a baseline for future interventions; assess whether syndromic surveillance systems provide a useful tool for public health alerting; enable us to explore which pollutants drive changes in health-care seeking behaviour; and add to the knowledge base.

Objective:

To explore the utility of syndromic surveillance systems for detecting and monitoring the impact of air pollution incidents on health-care seeking behaviour in England between 2012 and 2017.

Submitted by elamb on

During the winter months, Utah experiences a temperature inversion which traps pollutants, such as fine particle pollution (PM 2.5), in the Salt Lake Valley. A previous study determined the impact of inversion on ED visits for asthma, however similar phenomena have yet to be examined using the BioSense 2.0 syndromic surveillance system. While similar studies utilize a time-stratified case-crossover design, the absence of individually identifiable information on the dashboard precludes the utilization of this methodology. Using BioSense 2.0 frontend data, an ecological study design may allow for analyses to determine the impact of inversion on ED visits for respiratory syndrome and subsyndromes from submitting facilities in Salt Lake County, UT.

Objective

To determine the association between emergency department (ED) visits for the respiratory syndrome and subsyndromes and air quality indices for fine particle pollution in Salt Lake County, UT using frontend BioSense 2.0 data.

Submitted by rmathes on

Canada experienced 92 waterborne diseases outbreaks between 1975 and 2001. In addition, at any one time about 1500 communities in Canada are unable to use their drinking water. The source of exposure in disease outbreaks is often not known, so the true disease burden attributable to water related exposure may be much higher. Researchers have investigated risk factors for waterborne disease. However, providing acces to surveiallance tools of use by frontline staff in the field as well as by surveillance professionals was key to making this type of system successful.

Objective

The objectives of this environmental health surveillance system were to provide a robust system for monitoring of water quality trends, and information to be used for mitigation of potential health problems, resource planning, risk analyses and decision making

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on

CDC has updated the estimated range maps for Ae. aegypti and Ae. albopictus mosquitoes by using a model that predicts possible geographic ranges for these mosquitoes in the contiguous United States. The model used county-level records, historical records, and suitable climate variables to predict the likelihood (very low, low, moderate, or high) that these mosquitoes could survive and reproduce if introduced to an area during the months when mosquitoes are locally active. Maps are not meant to represent risk for spread of any specific disease

Submitted by uysz on
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