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Infectious Disease

Global Mass gatherings (MGs) such as Olympic Games, FIFA World Cup, and Hajj (Muslim pilgrimage to Makkah), attract millions of people from different countries. The gathering of a large population in a proximity facilitates transmission of infectious diseases. Attendees arrive from different geographical areas with diverse disease history and immune responses. The associated travel patterns with global events can contribute to a further disease spread affecting a large number of people within a short period and lead to a potential pandemic. Global MGs pose serious health threats and challenges to the hosting countries and home countries of the participants. Advanced planning and disease surveillance systems are required to control health risks in these events. The success of computational models in different areas of public health and epidemiology motivates using these models in MGs to study transmission of infectious diseases and assess the risk of epidemics. Computational models enable simulation and analysis of different disease transmission scenarios in global MGs. Epidemic models can be used to evaluate the impact of various measures of prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Objective:

To develop a computational model to assess the risk of epidemics in global mass gatherings and evaluate the impact of various measures of prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Submitted by elamb on

Public health agencies worldwide all enjoy the same mission—providing healthcare warnings, guidance, and support to the public and healthcare professionals they represent. A critical element in achieving this mission is accessing timely and comprehensive surveillance information about disease in their regions of responsibility. Advances in diagnostic technologies for infectious disease and in the wireless conveyance of information hold great promise for advancing the quality of surveillance information and in facilitating the delivery of timely, accurate, and impactful public health information. Quidel Corporation has developed a cloud–based, wireless communications system that is fully integrated with its Sofia fluorescence immunoassay (FIA) platform for rapid, point-of-care diagnosis of infectious disease. The system, called the Virena Global Wireless Surveillance System (hereinafter, Virena) provides test results to public health organizations and other appropriate entities in near-real time. Currently, more than 4,000 Sofia instruments are transmitting results automatically by Virena. This presentation describes the use of Virena in surveilling influenza in the U.S. in the 2016-2017 influenza season, when over 700,000 influenza-like-illness (ILI) patient results were transmitted. The methods employed, results, and the promise of this innovative system will be discussed.

Objective:

Demonstrate performance of the Virena Global Wireless Surveillance System, an automated platform utilized in conjunction with the Sofia FIA Analyzer, for near real-time transmission of infectious disease test results to public health and other healthcare organizations.

Submitted by elamb on

In the early morning of Friday January 20, 2017, Toronto Public Health (TPH) was notified of several reports of acute vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain/cramps among students living in residence at a post-secondary institution in Toronto, Canada. A public health investigation was initiated and it was quickly determined that a large number of students and visitors to the campus were affected. Following considerable media coverage, TPH began receiving an overwhelmingly high volume of reports from ill individuals who lived, visited, or worked at the college campus and had experienced gastrointestinal illness.

Objective:

To describe the use of an online survey tool to rapidly collect data from a large community outbreak of enteric illness in Toronto, Canada.

Submitted by elamb on

Definitions of “re-emerging infectious diseases” typically encompass any disease occurrence that was a historic public health threat, declined dramatically, and has since presented itself again as a significant health problem. Examples include antimicrobial resistance leading to resurgence of tuberculosis, or measles re-appearing in previously protected communities. While the language of this verbal definition of “re-emergence” is sensitive enough to capture most epidemiologically relevant resurgences, its qualitative nature obfuscates the ability to quantitatively classify disease re-emergence events as such.

Objective:

Although relying on verbal definitions of "re-emergence", descriptions that classify a “re-emergence” event as any significant recurrence of a disease that had previously been under public health control, and subjective interpretations of these events is currently the conventional practice, this has the potential to hinder effective public health responses. Defining re-emergence in this manner offers limited ability for ad hoc analysis of prevention and control measures and facilitates non-reproducible assessments of public health events of potentially high consequence. Re-emerging infectious disease alert (RED Alert) is a decision-support tool designed to address this issue by enhancing situational awareness by providing spatiotemporal context through disease incidence pattern analysis following an event that may represent a local (country-level) re-emergence. The tool’s analytics also provide users with the associated causes (socioeconomic indicators) related to the event, and guide hypothesis-generation regarding the global scenario.

Submitted by elamb on

Scarlet fever is a bacterial infection caused by group A streptococcus (GAS). The clinical symptoms are usually mild. Before October, 2007, case-based surveillance of scarlet fever was conducted through notifiable infectious diseases in Taiwan, but was removed later from the list of notifiable disease because of improved medical care capacities. In 2011, Hong Kong had encountered an outbreak of scarlet fever (1,2). In response, Taiwan developed an integrated syndromic surveillance system using multiple data sources since July 2011.

Objective

To develop an integrated syndromic surveillance system for timely monitoring and early detection of unusual situations of scarlet fever in Taiwan, since Hong Kong, being so close geographically to Taiwan, had an outbreak of scarlet fever in June 2011.

 

Submitted by Magou on

Infectious diseases can spread across borders. The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) collects information on binational infectious disease cases and shares it with Mexico. Infectious disease investigation in Arizona is enhanced by using an electronic surveillance platform known as the Medical Electronic Disease Surveillance Intelligence System (MEDSIS), and in 2010 a specific variable for binational cases with Mexico was added to the platform. ADHS also maintains a binational case definition in the state reportable communicable morbidities manual. Arizona partners with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ), US Mexico Unit (USMU), in a monthly binational case reporting project, and shares information with the Ministry of Health of the State of Sonora, Mexico, (SON MOH) to reinforce ongoing communication, to establish baseline disease patterns, and to help detect binational outbreaks. In 2007, the Ministry of Health of the State of Sonora began to use the MEDSIS system for real-time secure case notification, and secure file sharing, using the Arizona’s Health Services Portal and secure e-mail accounts for confidential communication between both states.

Objective:

To describe 5 years of binational infectious disease surveillance using the binational variable in the medical electronic surveillance system in Arizona.

Submitted by elamb on

International borders present unique challenges for the surveillance of infectious disease. Border communities represent locations with vast differences in cultures and languages, governing institutions, healthcare access, and priorities for the collection and surveillance of disease data. Pathogens and the health and security risks they create do not respect geographical and political boundaries. However, the organizations responsible for the surveillance and control of these agents must function within the borders of their respective governments. One Border One Health is a binational, multidisciplinary initiative aimed at engaging partners in the US and Mexico to identify and implement methods for successful communication and collaboration to enhance health capacity and disease surveillance within the border region. The advancements of international initiatives such as OBOH will help to develop the types of multi-country networks necessary for the effective monitoring of disease patterns and risks.

Objective

The purpose of this demonstration is to describe the cross-border collaborative processes used for the development of a transparent methodology to identify and prioritize zoonotic infectious disease agents in the California-Baja California border region.

Submitted by rmathes on

Preventing communicable disease spread is a primary objective for public health (PH). Reaching contagious people in a timely manner is essential to limit disease spread. Notifying patients of their infectious status also serves as an official reminder of social and legal responsibilities. The Marion County Public Health Department (MCPHD) sends disease information and Notice of Privacy Practices to patients using the United States Postal Service (USPS). We examined communicable disease cases with undelivered mail to ascertain failure causes and rates.

Objective

Explore causes of undelivered letters sent by public health departments to patients with communicable diseases.

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on

Dengue is a major cause of morbidity in Thailand. Annual outbreaks of varying sizes provide a particular challenge to the public health system because treatment of severe cases requires significant resources. Advanced warning of increases in incidence could help public health authorities allocate resources more effectively and mitigate the impact of epidemics.

Objective

To develop a statistical model for dengue fever surveillance that uses data from across Thailand to give early warning of developing epidemics.

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on

Timeliness of reports sent by laboratories and providers is a continuous challenge for disease surveillance and management. Public health organizations often collect communicable disease reports with various degrees of timeliness raising the concern about the delay in patient information received. Timely reports are beneficial to accurately evaluate community health needs and investigate disease outbreaks. According to Indiana state law, chlamydia reports are required to be sent to public health within 3 days after a positive test result confirmation. Therefore, laboratories and providers must be accountable and comply with regulation to ensure accurate data quality of disease assessment.

Objective

To analyze the time delay between a chlamydia positive test diagnosis and when a laboratory and/or a provider sends a report to a local public health department.

Submitted by teresa.hamby@d… on
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