The Bureau of Communicable Disease (BCD) at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene performs daily automated analyses using SaTScan to detect spatio-temporal clusters for 37 reportable diseases. Initially, we analyzed one address per patient, prioritizing home address if available. On September 25, 2015, a BCD investigator noticed two legionellosis cases with similar work addresses. A third case was identified in a nearby residential facility, and an investigation was initiated to identify a common exposure source.

Shootings with multiple victims are a concern for public safety and public health. The precise impact of such events and the trends associated with them is dependent on which events are counted. Some reports only consider events with multiple deaths, typically four or more, while other reports also include events with multiple victims and at least one death. Underreporting is also a concern. Some commonly cited databases for these events are based on media reports of shootings which may or may not capture the complete set of events that meet whatever criteria are being considered.

Identifying, solving, and stopping foodborne outbreaks in the U.S. requires the collaboration and coordination of multiple federal agencies and centers as well as state and local authorities. FDA’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) Network is responsible for outbreak surveillance, response, and post-response activities related to incidents involving multiple illnesses linked to FDA-regulated food.