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Hurricane

Description

On September 10, 2017, Hurricane Irma made landfall in Florida. Over 90% of Florida counties reported power outages as of September 11. During power outages, CO poisonings often occur due to indoor use of fuel combustion sources (e.g., cooking, heating) or generators for electricity. CO poisoning is a reportable condition in Florida; health care providers and laboratories are required to report suspected cases to the Florida Department of Health (FDOH). In Florida, approximately 202 cases of CO poisoning are reported each year (three-year average from 2014 to 2016). In addition to passive surveillance, FDOH uses the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE-FL) to find cases of CO poisoning. ESSENCE-FL provides access to ED data from 98% (255 out of 260) of EDs in Florida and all statewide FPICN call data (includes three poison control centers). ESSENCE-FL provides near real-time access to these data sets, as ED data are uploaded every 2 hours or once a day (depending on the hospital system) and FPICN data are uploaded every 10 minutes. The statewide FPICN database includes information about substance, signs and symptoms, exposure scenario, and patient identification information provided by the individual caller or clinician from a health care facility.

Objective: This study describes how Florida Poison Information Center Network (FPICN) and emergency department (ED) data accessed through Florida's syndromic surveillance system were used to conduct near real-time carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning surveillance and active case finding in response to Hurricane Irma in Florida..

Submitted by elamb on
Description

In Saint-Martin (31 949 inhabitants) and Saint-Barthelemy (9 625 inhabitants) islands in the French West Indies, the surveillance system is based on several data sources: (1) a syndromic surveillance system based on two emergency departments (ED) of Saint-Barthellemy (HL de Bruyn) and Saint-Martin (CH Fleming) and on mortality (SurSaUD® network [1])); (2) a network of sentinel general practitioners (GP'™s) based on the voluntary participation of 10 GPs in Saint-Martin and 5 in Saint-Barthelemy; (3) the notifiable diseases surveillance system (31 notifiable diseases to individual case-specific form); (4) the regional surveillance systems of leptospirosis and arboviruses based on the biological cases reported by physicians and laboratories of two islands. On September 6, 2017, Hurricane Irma struck Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy islands. Both islands were massively destroyed. This storm led to major material damages, such as power outages, disturbance of drinking water systems, road closures, destruction of medical structures and evacuation or relocation of residents. In this context, the usual monitoring system did not work and life conditions were difficult. The regional unit of French National Public Health Agency set up an epidemiological surveillance by sending epidemiologists in the field in order to collect data directly from ED physicians, GP's and in dispensaries. Those data allowed to describe short-term health effects and to detect potential disease outbreaks in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. This paper presents results of the specific syndromic surveillance.

Objective: Describe short-term health effects of the Hurricane using the syndromic surveillance system based on emergency departments, general practitioners and dispensaries in Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy islands from September 11, 2017 to October 29, 2017.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

On September 10, 2017, Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 hurricane and subsequently tracked up the west side of the state. Due to the size of the storm, it impacted nearly all of Florida. The Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE-FL), the state’s syndromic surveillance system, captures 98% of the emergency department (ED) visits statewide and has historically served a vital function in providing near real-time ED data that are used to track post-disaster morbidity and mortality. After previous hurricanes and tropical storms, increases in carbon monoxide poisonings, animal bites, and injuries have been documented. During post-Irma surveillance, an additional increase in seizure-related ED visits was observed.

Objective: Using Florida's syndromic surveillance data, to describe the increase in seizure activity in the days after Hurricane Irma made landfall in 2017

Submitted by elamb on

Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas on August 25, 2017, resulting in 88 fatalities and more than $125 billion in damages to infrastructure. In Houston, flooding created a toxic mix of chemicals, sewage, biohazards, and 8 million cubic yards of garbage. The level of biohazard exposure, as well as injuries from trauma among persons residing in affected areas, was widespread and likely contributed to increases in emergency department (ED) visits in Houston and cities that received persons evacuating from the hurricane.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

In 2005, three hurricanes made landfall in Florida, with Hurricane Wilma having the most severe impact on Miami-Dade County. Syndromic surveillance is typically used to detect bioterrorism or natural disease outbreaks before specific diagnoses are made. After Wilma, however, the Miami-Dade County Health Department assessed the utility of syndromic data for surveillance of hurricane-related injuries.

 

Objective

To determine the proportion of injuries in Miami-Dade County that could be related to the impact of Hurricane Wilma, which made landfall in Florida on October 25, 2005.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall just east of New Orleans, LA at 6:10AM CST and again at the LA/MS border at 10:00AM CST as a Category 3 hurricane, causing mass destruction along their coastlines. The devastation in LA and MS forced many residents to evacuate. Outside of the hurricane affected areas of LA, MS, and AL, GA received the second largest number of evacuees (approximately 125,000).

 

Objective

To describe the victims of Hurricane Katrina who evacuated to GA and to assess their impact on emergency departments enrolled in GA’s syndromic surveillance system.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

On October 24, 2005, Hurricane Wilma made landfall on the southwest coast of Florida as a category 3 storm. The storm moved toward the northeast and passed through Palm Beach and Broward Counties before entering the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane force winds and rain caused extensive damage to electrical infrastructure and traffic lights, and temporarily displaced thousands of residents. Power outages in Broward County affected over 90% of its 1.8 million residents, with some outages lasting >2 weeks. Boil water notices were declared for much of the county. Acute care hospitals remained open during this time, although services provided by health care providers in other settings were interrupted due to structural damage and power outages.

 

Objective

We used the syndromic surveillance system ESSENCE to describe the morbidity after Hurricane Wilma in Broward County, Florida.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Timely outbreak detection, and monitoring of morbidity and mortality among Katrina evacuees, and needs assessment for better planning and response were urgent information intensive priorities during Katrina relief efforts at Houston, and called for immediate deployment of a real-time surveillance and needs assessment system ad hoc, in order to collect and analyze relevant data at the scene. Initial requirement analysis revealed the following capabilities as essential to sustain effective response within the shelters:

• The ability to securely collect and integrate data from evacuees seeking any form of health services from all care providers (academic, volunteers, federal, NGOs and international aid organizations, etc), including demographic information, vital signs, chief complaints, disabilities, chronic conditions, current and past medications, traumas and injuries, exposure to toxic materials, clinical laboratory results, past medical history, discharge notes and diagnoses, and ability to collect free text entries for any other information (similar to a full-blown electronic medical records system).

• Proactive survey of demographic profile, physical and mental health status, as well as special needs assessment (e.g., dialysis, medications, etc) from all evacuees.

• The ability to collect uniform information, using any network-enabled device available: PCs, tablets, and handheld devices. 

• The ability to classify observations by processing sign and symptom, chief complaint, medication, and other diagnostic data (including free text entries) through ad-hoc definition of concepts such as (Gastrointestinal, Respiratory, Fever and Rash, etc). 

 

Objective

This paper presents lessons learned from leveraging Internet-based technologies and Services Oriented Architecture in providing timely, novel, and customizable solutions, just in time and for preparedness against unprecedented events such as natural disasters (e.g., Katrina) or terrorism.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

The North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT) is the early event detection system that serves public health users across North Carolina. One important data source for this system is North Carolina emergency department visits. ED data from hospitals across the state are downloaded, standardized, aggregated, and updated twice daily.

After hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast on August 29, 2005, federal officials evacuated two large groups of evacuees into Wake and Mecklenburg counties in North Carolina. In order to identify and monitor the hospital-based public health needs of these and other “unofficial” evacuees, NC state officials used both NC DETECT and hospital-based Public Health Epidemiologist reporting methods, along with other public health surveillance initiatives.

Objective

To compare two different methods of monitoring hurricane Katrina evacuees’ hospital visits in North Carolina.

Submitted by elamb on