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Infectious Disease

Calls to NHS Direct (a national UK telephone health advice line) which may be indicative of infection show marked seasonal variation, often peaking during winter or early spring. This variation may be related to the seasonality of common viruses. There is currently no routine microbiological confirmation of the cause of illness in NHS Direct callers. Modelling trends in NHS Direct syndromic call data against laboratory data may help by attributing the likely cause of these calls the and surveillance ‘signals’ generated by syndromic surveillance.

Multiple linear regression has been used previously to estimate the contribution of rotavirus and RSV to hospital admission for infectious intestinal disease and lower respiratory tract infections respectively. We applied a similar regression model to NHS Direct syndromic surveillance data and laboratory reports.

 

Objective

To provide weekly estimates of the proportions of NHS Direct respiratory calls attributable to common infectious disease pathogens.

Referenced File
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Security threats and the recent emergence of avian influenza in Europe have heightened the profile of and need for a good surveillance strategy during such events. The two main rationales for enhanced infectious disease surveillance at mass events include a perceived increased risk of infectious disease events and a need to detect and respond to events more quickly. Moreover, the requirements of the International Health Regulations (IHR) issued by the World Health Organization (WHO), which take effect in mid-2007, define the need for timely reporting of infectious diseases during international mass events [1]. Therefore, an enhanced surveillance, based on Germany’s pre-existing system of mandatory notifications was conducted in the12 World Cup cities.

Objective

In this abstract, we describe the major findings of an evaluation of our enhanced infectious disease surveillance activities during the FIFA Soccer World Cup 2006 in Germany.

Referenced File
Submitted by elamb on

Zika virus disease became a significant public health problem in Brazil in 2015 and quickly spread to other South American and Central American countries. While not an overly severe illness for many, Zika virus disease has been shown to increase the probability of severe birth defects in babies when their mothers are infected with the virus during pregnancy. Zika virus disease has also been associated with Guillain-Barré syndrome.

Submitted by elamb on

Presented December 20, 2018.

The presentation will provide a summary of the epidemiology of AFM during the increase in cases in 2018 and updates on CDC’s AFM activities.

Presenters

Adriana Lopez, MHS, Epidemiologist, Division of Viral Diseases, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases 



Zach Stein, MPH, Syndromic Surveillance Analyst, ICF Contractor Supporting Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance, Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services 

Rabies is caused by a virus spread to people from the saliva and neural tissue of infected animals. The most common mode of transmission is through the bite of a rabid animal; however, rabies can be transmitted through non-bite exposures (e.g., transplant of organs or tissue, contamination of mucous membranes with saliva or neural tissue from an infected animal). Rabies has been recognized throughout history due to its neurotropic nature and because it is nearly 100% fatal following symptom onset.

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Hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common childhood viral infection, characterised by a brief febrile illness, vesicular rashes on the hands and feet and mouth ulcers. HFMD is endemic in Singapore, with more than 50% of cases occurring in children below 5 years of age.1 Enterovirus 71 (EV71), coxsackievirus A6 (CA6) and A16 (CA16) were the major enteroviruses causing nationwide HFMD epidemics in Singapore in recent years. We estimated the basic reproduction number (R0), which measures the infectiousness of a pathogen in a given population, of these enteroviruses to have a better understanding of the transmission dynamics.

Objective

To estimate the basic reproduction number of enterovirus 71, coxsackievirus A6 and A16 in hand, foot, and mouth disease outbreaks in Singapore, for a better understanding of the transmission dynamics of these enteroviruses.

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This project was established through the Border Infectious Disease Surveillance (BIDS) program in Arizona (AZ) to monitor infecting respiratory pathogens among hospitalized patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) in the AZ border region from September 2010 to the present.

Objective

To present the epidemiology, clinical aspects, and laboratory results of AZ SARI case patients and to describe respiratory viruses in the AZ border region.

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Surveillance systems utilizing early indicator of disease activity would be useful for monitoring community disease pattern and facilitating timely decision making on public health interventions in an evidence-based manner. School absenteeism has been previously considered as a possible syndromic approach for monitoring influenza activity. We explored the feasibility and practicability of establishing an electronic school absenteeism surveillance system in Hong Kong for monitoring influenza-like illness (ILI) and other diseases using automatically captured data employing smart card technology.

Objective

We examined the utility of an electronic school absenteeism system for monitoring multiple types of diseases.

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