Skip to main content

Surveillance

Description

Influenza-like illness (ILI) data is collected via an Influenza Sentinel Provider Surveillance Network at the state level. Because participation is voluntary, locations of the sentinel providers may not reflect optimal geographic placement. This study analyzes two different geographic placement schemes - a maximal coverage model (MCM) and a K-median model, two location-allocation models commonly used in geographic information systems. The MCM chooses sites in areas with the densest population. The K-median model chooses sites which minimize the average distance traveled by individuals to their nearest site. We have previously shown how a placement model can be used to improve population coverage for ILI surveillance in Iowa when considering the sites recruited by the Iowa Department of Public Health. We extend this work by evaluating different surveillance placement algorithms with respect to outbreak intensity and timing (i.e., being able to capture the start, peak and end of the influenza season).

 

Objective

To evaluate the performance of several sentinel surveillance site placement algorithms for ILI surveillance systems. We explore how these different approaches perform by capturing both the overall intensity and timing of influenza activity in the state of Iowa.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

A devastating cholera outbreak began in Haiti in 2010. Sequencing of Vibrio cholerae isolates showed that the epidemic was likely the result of the introduction of cholera from a distant geographic source. The same strain of cholera was detected in other countries within 100 days. The unique instigation and geographic spread of this epidemic highlight the need for improvements in timely global outbreak surveillance. Novel information sources have been shown to provide early information about public health events and disease epidemiology. Particularly, volume of Internet metrics such as web searches or micro-blogs have been shown to be a good corollary for public health events. In this study, we evaluate geographic trends in online social media following an infectious disease outbreak to determine whether this may enable prediction of secondary outbreak locations.

 

Objective

To evaluate the association between and develop a risk model relating geographic trends of social media and spread of an infectious disease outbreak.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Informal surveillance systems like HealthMap are effective at the early detection of outbreaks. However, reliance on informal sources such as news media makes the efficiency of these systems vulnerable to newsroom constraints, namely high-profile disease events drawing reporting resources at the expense of other potential outbreaks and diminished staff over weekends and holidays. To our knowledge, this effect on informal or syndromic surveillance systems has yet to be studied.

 

Objective

Reporting about large public health events may reduce effective disease surveillance by syndromic or informal surveillance systems. The goal is to determine to what extent this problem exists and characterize situations in which it is likely to occur.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Taiwan had established a nation-wide emergency department (ED)-based syndromic surveillance system since 2004, with a mean detection sensitivity of 0.67 in 2004-06 [1]. However, this system may not represent the true epidemic situation of infectious disease in community, particularly those who don't seek medical care [2]. Moreover, the epidemiological settings, sources of the infection and social network all together may still facilitate the transmissions. These rooted problems cannot be rapidly solved.

Objective

This study has two specific aims:

(1) to establish a web-based, public-access infectious disease reporting system (www.eid.url.tw), using newly designed public syndrome groups and based on computational and participatory epidemiology

(2) to evaluate this system by comparing the epidemiological patterns with national-wide electronic health-database and traditional passive surveillance systems from Taiwan-CDC.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection is usually mild in childhood but more severe in adolescents and adults'. An estimated 1.4 million cases of HAV infection occur annually in the world. The case-fatality rate among patients of all ages is approximately 0.3%, but tends to be higher among older persons (approximately 2% over 40 years of age). HAV is a notifiable disease on weekly basis where health centers and hospitals report cases to the health directorates which in turn report electronically to the Communicable Diseases Directorate, with subsequent paper reporting of detailed epidemiological description. The due time is Tuesday next week. Diagnosis is clinically based and depends on case definition..A previous study in Jordan revealed that reporting rate increased from 6.4 in 2004 to 7.9 in 2008/100,000, the highest reporting rate was in the North region mainly Mafraq.

Objective

The study aims to asses' HAV surveillance in Mafraq Health directorate, and to determine whether the increase in reporting is related to a public health issue or is a result of a relatively good surveillance.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

During the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) temporarily made lab-confirmed influenza hospitalizations reportable. Reporting of influenza hospitalizations is resource intensive for hospitals and local health jurisdictions. As a result, electronic sources of influenza hospitalization data are being explored. A Regional Health Information Exchange (HIE) in Washington currently sends DOH ICD9 coded discharge diagnoses and microbiology laboratory orders and results for all patients admitted to 17 hospitals throughout Washington, including four of the five hospitals in Spokane County. The HIE hospitalization and laboratory data may be a valuable replacement for mandatory notifiable condition reporting to monitor the basic epidemiology and severity of influenza in Washington.

Objective

To evaluate the sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV), timeliness, completeness, and representativeness of lab-confirmed influenza hospitalization data from a health information exchange with respect to traditional notifiable condition reporting.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Syndromic surveillance systems were designed for early outbreak and bioterrorism event detection. As practical experience shaped development and implementation, these systems became more broadly used for general surveillance and situational awareness, notably influenza-like illness (ILI) monitoring. Beginning in 2006, ISDS engaged partners from state and local health departments to build Distribute, a distributed surveillance network for sharing de-identified aggregate emergency department syndromic surveillance data through existing state and local public health systems. To provide more meaningful cross-jurisdictional comparisons and to allow valid aggregation of syndromic data at the national level, a pilot study was conducted to assess implementation of a common ILI syndrome definition across Distribute.

 

Objective

Assess the feasibility and utility of adopting a common ILI syndrome across participating jurisdictions in the ISDS Distribute project.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

In the summer of 2001, New Jersey (NJ) was in the process of developing surveillance activities for bioterrorism. On September 11, 2001, the U.S. suffered a major terrorist attack. Approximately a month later, Anthrax-laced letters were processed through a New Jersey Postal Distribution Center (PDC). As a result of these events, the state instituted simplistic surveillance activities in emergency departments (ED's). Over time, this initial system has developed into a broader, more streamlined approach to surveillance that now includes syndromic data e.g., Influenza-like illness (ILI) as well as the use of technology (automated surveys, real-time data connections, and alert analysis) to achieve surveillance goals and provide daily information to public health partners in local health departments and DHSS response colleagues.

Objective

To describe the improvements in New Jersey's Emergency Department surveillance system over time.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Although development of computerized medical record systems in the United States is a high priority, there are relatively few instances of such systems supporting disease surveillance systems. The Indian Health Service (IHS) has had an electronic record database for over 30 years, however, implementation of point of care electronic health records (EHR) and use of these data for public health surveillance has begun only over the past 4 years.

Objective

To develop a robust, sensitive, and specific local, regional, and national public health surveillance system utilizing an electronic clinical information system.

Submitted by elamb on
Description

Using an electronic health record (EHR) system, we tracked an outpatient population from a series of primary care providers to identify influenza-like illness (ILI) as part of a multi-state effort directed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From these patients, we also collected de-identified project-specific information and symptoms using an electronic template to evaluate possible differences among patient groupings as well as longitudinal population patterns.

 

Objective

Evaluate the use of an EHR network to track ILI incidence in an outpatient population and using laboratory testing, identify influenza cases by subtype as well as other respiratory viruses.

Submitted by elamb on