Infectious Disease

The success of public health campaigns in decreasing or eliminating the burden of vaccine-preventable diseases can be undermined by media content influencing vaccine hesitancy in the population. A tool for tracking and describing the ever-growing platforms for such media content can help decide how and where to invest in campaigns to increase public confidence in vaccines. The Vaccine Sentimeter, developed from the Healthmap project, aims to assist public health practitioners in maintaining or improving vaccine coverage through a real-time, online visualization tool of global media content on vaccines.

Objective The current analysis describes the scope and trends in United States content from the Vaccine Sentimeter’s results, while seeking to examine any possible links between media content, vaccine coverage, and reported vaccine adverse events in the country.

The vaccine preventable diseases (VPDs) of measles and diphtheria in India were responsible for 47% of global measles mortality and 20% of global diphtheria mortality in 2010. We evaluated the VPD surveillance system of Delhi, focusing on measles and diphtheria.

Objective

The specific objective was to evaluate the VPD surveillance system of Delhi, focusing on measles and diphtheria.

Histoplasmosis is an infectious disease caused by a fungus called Histoplasma capsulatum. Fungal spores are found in the soil, mostly associated with bird and bat droppings, and if inhaled can cause lung infection. Histoplasmosis is a reportable disease in Michigan and a case definition was implemented in 2007. Cases are reported into the Michigan Disease Surveillance System (MDSS), a web-based electronic database, and investigated by local health departments (LHD). An evaluation of the histoplasmosis surveillance system was conducted.

In Africa, approximately 13 million cases of measles and 650,000 deaths occur annually, with sub-Saharan Africa having the highest morbidity and mortality (1). Measles infection is endemic in Nigeria and has been documented to occur all year round despite high measles routine and supplemental immunisation coverage (2,3). The frequent outbreaks of Measles in Kaduna State prompted the need for the reevaluation of the Measles case-based surveillance system.

Objective

To evaluate the case-based Measles surveillance system in Kaduna State of Nigeria and identify gaps in its operations.

Evaluation of a public health surveillance system is one of the major outputs of the field attachment of the Nigeria Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Programme.To conduct this activity, the HIV/AIDS surveillance system in Enugu State, Nigeria was evaluated. The evaluation was conducted from February to March 2014.The objectives of the evaluation were to describe the attributes and process of operation of HIV/AIDS surveillance system in Enugu State, determine if the set objectives for establishing HIV/ AIDS surveillance are being met or not, determine the efficiency and effectiveness of the HIV/AIDS surveillance system and to make appropriate recommendations for improving the surveillance system.

Objective

• To determine the public health importance and relevance of the surveillance system.
• To describe the process of operation and purpose of the system and assess its key attributes.
• To determine the effectiveness and efficiency of the surveillance system.
• To make appropriate recommendations to stakeholders for its improvement.

Hepatitis C is a nationally notifiable viral infection that occurs as a result of parenteral contact with infected body fluids. An estimated 3.5 million persons are currently infected with HCV.1 Infection status is divided into acute (short-term, onset within 6 month of exposure) and chronic (long-term). For most people (75-85%), acute HCV infection leads to chronic infection.2 Those with chronic infection remain relatively asymptomatic until the infection becomes severe enough to be recognized or the infected individual is screened for infection with hepatitis C. Major causes of morbidity and mortality associated with HCV are liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Treatment is available, but it is expensive and not recommended for some vulnerable populations, such as those with ongoing injection drug use (IDU), who account for the majority of new HCV infections in the United States.3-5 Washington State records cases of both acute and chronic HCV infection, but the system is fragmented.

Objective

To evaluate the surveillance system for hepatitis C virus in Washington State using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems. Based on the findings of the evaluation, recommendations will be made for changes in practice.

Infectious disease remains costly in human and economic terms. Effective and timely disease surveillance is a critical component of prevention and mitigation strategies. The limitations of traditional disease surveillance systems have motivated new techniques based upon internet data sources such as search queries and social media. However, 4 challenges remain before internet-based disease surveillance models can be reliably integrated into an operational system: openness, breadth, transferability, and forecasting. We evaluated a new data source, Wikipedia access logs, in these 4 challenges for global disease surveillance and forecasting

Objective

To explore the use of Wikipedia as a data source for disease surveillance.

The World Health Organization (WHO) puts a great emphasis on the study of diseases related to using or consuming poor-quality water and the absence of proper hygiene. Unfortunately, consumption of poor-quality water causes certain diseases in Ukraine.

The World Health Organization (WHO) puts a great emphasis on the study of diseases related to using or consuming poor-quality water and the absence of proper hygiene. Unfortunately, consumption of poor-quality water causes certain diseases in Ukraine.

Since 2003 some Arizona counties have followed mosquito surveillance protocols to trap the West Nile Virus vector, Culex spp., using CO2 traps. Despite low sensitivity of these traps to detect Aedes spp., one out of seven CO2 traps deployed in Santa Cruz County detected Aedes aegypti in 2014. Enhancing surveillance for Aedes spp. in this region is critical, given that local transmission of dengue has occured across the border in Nogales, Sonora. Limited resources in Santa Cruz County have previously inhibited efforts to enhance mosquito surveillance . To broaden the reach of county surveillance, we implemented a community participatory project by engaging residents to conduct ovitrapping, a non-technical trap that attracts Aedes spp.

Objective

The objective of this work is to develop an efficient communitybased strategy to enhance mosquito surveillance for Aedes spp., vector for chikungunya and dengue viruses, in Santa Cruz County on the U.S.-Mexico border. We aim to determine vector presence, distribution, and seasonality by using ovitraps maintained by community members.