Infectious Disease

The early detection of outbreaks of diseases is one of the most challenging objectives of epidemiological surveillance systems. In order to achieve this goal, the primary foundation is using those big surveillance data for understanding and controlling the spatiotemporal variability of disease through populations. Typically, public health’s surveillance system would generate data with the big data characteristics of high volume, velocity, and variety. One common question of big data analysis is most of the data have the multilevel or hierarchy structure, in other word the big data are non-independent. Traditional multilevel or hierarchical model can only deal with 2 or 3 hierarchical data structure, which bound health big data further research for modeling, forecast and early-warning in the public health surveillance, in particular involving complex spatial and temporal variability of Infectious Diseases in the reality. 

Objective

The purpose of this article was to quantitative analyses the spatial variability and temporal variability of influenza like illness (ILI) by a three-level Poisson model, which means to explain the spatial and temporal level effects by introducing the random effects. 

Global targets for elimination of human rabies mediated by dogs have been set for 2030. In the Americas countries are progressing towards interruption of transmission and declaration of rabies freedom1. Guidance for managing elimination programmes to ensure continued progress during the endgame is critical, yet often limited and lacking in specific recommendations. Characteristic spatiotemporal incidence patterns are indicative of progress, and through their identification, tailored guidance can be provided. 

Objective

To provide surveillance tools to support policymakers and practitioners to identify epidemiological situations and inform the progressive implementation of rabies elimination programmes. 

Malaria is a preventable disease but 3.4 billion people at risk globally with 207 million cases and 627 deaths reported in 2013. Africa accounts for 80% of cases and 90% of all malaria deaths. Nigeria accounts for 25% of malaria burden in Africa. The goal of malaria control is to reduce malaria –related transmissions, cases and deaths to a level where it is no longer a public health concern.

Objective

We aim to assess the implementation of malaria prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies, to assess implementation trends from 2011 to 2014 and if surveillance targets were met. 

Transparency of information on infectious disease epidemics is crucial for not only public health workers but also the residents in the communities. Traditionally, disease control departments created official websites for displaying disease maps or epi-curves with the confirmed case counts. The websites were usually very formal and static, without interaction, animation, or even the aid of spatial statistics. Therefore, we tried to take advantage of open data and use a lightweight programming language, JavaScript, to create an interactive website, named “Taiwan Infectious Disease Map (http://ide.geohealth.tw/)“. With the website, we expect to provide real-time incidence information and related epidemiological features using interactive maps and charts. 

Objective

To visualize the incidence of notifiable infectious diseases spatially and interactively, we aimed to provide a friendly interface to access local epidemic information based on open data for health professionals and the public. 

According to CDC, CRE is used to describe bacteria that are non- susceptible to one or more carbapenems; doripenem, meropenem or imipenem and resistant to third generation cephalosporins like ceftriaxone, cefotaxime and ceftazidime. These organisms cause infections that are associated with high mortality rates and they have the potential to spread widely. Antibiotic resistant bacteria cause more than 2 million illnesses and at least 23,000 deaths each year in United States. CREs are found in many health care settings like acute care hospitals, long term care facilities, nursing homes, rehabilitation facilities and other health care settings. Although CREs includes a number of species, reporting in State of Texas is limited to CRE- Klebsiella species and CRE-E.coli.

Objective

To examine demographic as well as clinical characteristics of the Carbapenam Resistant Enteriobacteriacae (CRE) Organisms cases in Houston, Texas, 2015-2016

Community influenza infection rates are highest among children. In children, influenza can cause severe illness and complications including, respiratory failure and death. Annual influenza vaccination is recommended for all persons aged ≥ 6 months. In 2004, influenza- associated deaths in children became a notifiable condition. 

Objective

To characterize and describe influenza-associated pediatric deaths in the United States over five influenza seasons, 2010–11 through 2014–15. 

Specific communicable diseases have to be reported by law within a specific time period. In Ohio, prior to 2001, most of these disease​ reports were on paper reports that were reported from providers to local health departments. In turn, the Communicable Disease Nurse mailed the hard copies to the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). In 2001 the Ohio Disease Reporting System (ODRS) was rolled out to all local public health agencies in Ohio. ODRS is Ohio’s portion of the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System. ODRS should not be confused with syndromic surveillance systems that are for detecting a disease outbreak before the disease itself is detected. Chronic disease surveillance system data has been evaluated for long-term trends and potential enhancements. However, the use of communicable disease reports vary greatly. However, the export data has not routinely been used for quality improvement purposes of the disease reporting process itself. In December 2014, Greene County Public Health (GCPH) began a project to improve reporting of communicable diseases and the response to disease outbreaks. 

Objective

Improve disease reporting and outbreak management. 

From 1 September 2015, babies in the United Kingdom (UK) born on/after 1 July 2015 became eligible to receive the MenB vaccine, given at 2 and 4 months of age, with a booster at 12 months. Early trials found a high prevalence of fever (over 38°C) in babies given the vaccine with other routine vaccines at 2 and 4 months. We used syndromic surveillance data to assess whether there had been increased family doctor (general practitioner (GP)) consultations for fever in young infants following the introduction of the vaccine. 

Objective

To use syndromic surveillance data to assess whether there has been an increase in GP fever consultations since the inclusion of the meningococcal B (MenB) vaccine in the UK vaccination schedule. 

Zika virus spread quickly through South and Central America in 2015. The City of Houston saw its first travel-related Zika cases in December of 2015. On January 29th, the City held the first planning meeting with regional partners from healthcare, blood banks, petrochemical companies, mosquito control, and others. Additionally the City activated Incident Command Structure (ICS) and designated the Public Health Authority as the Incident Commander.

Initial steps taken by HHD included expanding the capability and capacity of the public health laboratory to test for Zika virus; expand surveillance efforts; created an educational campaign around the “3Ds” of Zika defense (Drain, Dress, DEET) which were then disseminated through several means, including a mass mailing with water bills; and provided DEET to mothers through the WIC program.

The Houston Health Department took the lead in authoring the City’s Zika Action Plan. In this 3 goals and 6 strategies were identified. Goals included 1) Keep Houstonians and visitors aware of the threat of Zika; 2) minimize the spread of the virus; and 3) protect pregnant women from the virus. The 6 strategies employed were to A) develop preparedness plans; B) implement ICS within the City; C) ensure situational awareness through surveillance; D) Increase community awareness; E) reduce opportunities for Zika mosquito breeding grounds; and F) provide direct intervention to reduce the threat of Zika.

HHD was responsible for many of the action items within the plan. We conducted several community outreach events, where we disseminated educational materials, t-shirts, DEET, and other give- aways. These events allowed frequent engagement with the public for bidrectional communication on how to approach the threat. 

Objective

This session will explore the role of the Houston Health Department (HHD) in the City of Houston’s response to the threat of Zika. The panelists will provide perspective from the roles of Bureau Chief, informatician, and epidemiologist and provide insight into lessons learned and strategic successes. 

Circumstances within the military environment may place military personnel at increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STI) including HIV. HIV bio-behavioral risk studies provide a critical source of data to estimate HIV/STI prevalence and identify risk factors, allowing programs to maximize impact by focusing on the drivers of the epidemic. 

Objective

We present lessons learned from over a decade of HIV bio- behavioral risk study implementation and capacity-building in African militaries.