An overview of disease surveillance and notification system in Nigeria and the roles of clinicians in disease outbreak prevention and control

While outbreaks of infectious diseases have long presented a public health challenge, especially in developing countries like Nigeria; within recent years, the frequency of such outbreaks has risen tremendously. Furthermore, with the recent outbreaks of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola virus disease and other epidemic prone diseases in Nigeria demanding immediate public health action, there is a need to strengthen the existing notifiable disease surveillance and notification system with increased clinicians’ involvement in timely reporting of notifiable diseases to designated public health authorities for prompt public health action. Hence, this paper provides the opportunity to increase awareness among clinicians on the importance of immediate reporting of notifiable diseases and intensify engagement of clinicians in disease notification activities by describing various notifiable diseases in Nigeria using their surveillance case definition, outlines the reporting channel for notifying these diseases and highlights the roles of clinicians in the current disease surveillance and notification network for early disease outbreak detection and public health response in Nigeria.     

特大地震灾害后平武南坝镇应急卫生快速评估分析

目的了解特大地震后重灾区主要公共卫生问题和需求,确定救灾防疫工作重点和干预策略。方法采用访谈法和调查法,了解当地概况、历史疫情、卫生资源、震灾影响、群众安置、人畜尸体处理、饮用水卫生、饮食卫生、环境卫生、疾病监测体系、灾民与救援部队人员健康状况、卫生处置以及外部需求等,对灾区现场进行全面快速卫生学评估。结果评估结果表明,特大地震灾害后,平武县南坝镇生态环境被破坏;卫生资源受重创且运行困难;环境卫生条件恶化;蝇密度高;生活饮用水、食品卫生存在较大隐患;疾病监测体系亟待建立;急需外部专业防疫力量的援助。结论特大地震灾区初始阶段,生活饮用水、食品卫生与环境消杀以及完善的症状监测体系是确保大灾之后无大疫的关键环节。     

Improving information access for public health professionals

Fundamental to our protection against biological weapons and the detection of disease outbreaks is the need to strengthen our surveillance systems. Improved electronic communications between local, state, and federal public health agencies provide a way for health officials to share information on unusual disease outbreaks and provide important health alert information. This article describes a model of a partnership between a regional medical library of the National Library of Medicine, a school of public health, and federally qualified community health centers. This project upgraded technology and provided public health professional training on Internet information and resources for local public health agencies.     

Risk factors for typhoid outbreak in Sungai Congkak Recreational Park, Selangor 2009

Typhoid fever continues to pose public health problems in Selangor where cases are found sporadically with occasional outbreaks reported. In February 2009, Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (HTAR) reported a cluster of typhoid fever among four children in the pediatric ward. We investigated the source of the outbreak, risk factors for the infection to propose control measures. We conducted a case-control study to identify the risk factors for the outbreak. A case was defined as a person with S. typhi isolated from blood, urine or stool and had visited Sungai Congkak recreational park on 27th January 2010. Controls were healthy household members of cases who have similar exposure but no isolation of S. typhi in blood, urine or stool. Cases were identified from routine surveillance system, medical record searching from the nearest clinic and contact tracing other than family members including food handlers and construction workers in the recreational park. Immediate control measures were initiated and followed up. Twelve (12) cases were identified from routine surveillance with 75 household controls. The Case-control study showed cases were 17 times more likely to be 12 years or younger (95% CI: 2.10, 137.86) and 13 times more likely to have ingested river water accidentally during swimming (95% CI: 3.07, 58.71). River water was found contaminated with sewage disposal from two public toilets which effluent grew salmonella spp. The typhoid outbreak in Sungai Congkak recreational park resulted from contaminated river water due to poor sanitation. Children who accidentally ingested river water were highly susceptible. Immediate closure and upgrading of public toilet has stopped the outbreak.     

Self-reported fever and measured temperature in emergency department records used for syndromic surveillance

Many public health agencies monitor population health using syndromic surveillance, generally employing information from emergency department (ED) visit records. When combined with other information, objective evidence of fever may enhance the accuracy with which surveillance systems detect syndromes of interest, such as influenza-like illness. This study found that patient chief complaint of self-reported fever was more readily available in ED records than measured temperature and that the majority of patients with an elevated temperature recorded also self-reported fever. Due to its currently limited availability, we conclude that measured temperature is likely to add little value to self-reported fever in syndromic surveillance for febrile illness using ED records.     

Challenges for communicable disease surveillance and control in southern Iraq,April-June 2003

The recent war in Iraq presents significant challenges for the surveillance and control of communicable diseases. In early April 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) sent a team of public health experts to Kuwait and a base was established in the southern Iraqi governorate of Basrah on May 3. We present the lessons learned from the communicable disease surveillance and control program implemented in the Basrah governorate in Iraq (population of 1.9 million) in April and May 2003, and we report communicable disease surveillance data through June 2003. Following the war, communicable disease control programs were disrupted, access to safe water was reduced, and public health facilities were looted. Rapid health assessments were carried out in health centers and hospitals to identify priorities for action. A Health Sector Coordination Group was organized with local and international health partners, and an early warning surveillance system for communicable disease was set up. In the first week of May 2003, physicians in hospitals in Basrah suspected cholera cases and WHO formed a cholera control committee. As of June 29, 2003, Iraqi hospital laboratories have confirmed 94 cases of cholera from 7 of the 8 districts of the Basrah governorate. To prevent the transmission of major communicable diseases, restoring basic public health and water/sanitation services is currently a top priority in Iraq. Lack of security continues to be a barrier for effective public health surveillance and response in Iraq.     

Emergency Health Planning

This paper outlines the development of emergency health planning as a function of government. Ten provinces have the basic responsibility for the organization, preparation and operation of medical, nursing, hospital and public health services in an emergency. The Department of National Health and Welfare is responsible for the provision of advice and assistance to the provincial and municipal governments in such matters. Eight provinces have now hired full-time planning staffs to co-ordinate the health planning of the Provincial Departments of Health and Provincial Emergency Measures Organization.

Four major programs have been established. The first program provides for the continuity of leadership and guidance by health authorities at the federal, provincial and municipal level. Essential records have been developed and emergency legislation prepared. This program, however, will be of little use unless health services are organized at the municipal level. In this organizational program, advice and assistance have been provided to existing hospitals and departments of health in the conduct of disaster planning. The efforts of these agencies are co-ordinated by municipal health authorities into a community disaster plan. The third program deals with information and education of the general public and the health workers. This program is designed to make the family unit self-sufficient for up to seven days and the health worker prepared to undertake his emergency role. The first three programs are directed to the organization and training of manpower; the fourth program provides the necessary supplies. From the national medical stockpile of $18,000,000, some $12,000,000 has been received, packaged for long-term storage and distributed to regional depots across the country. To ensure their ready availability in time of emergency an agreement has been reached with seven provinces for the release of hospital disaster kits.

     

AMIA Advocates National Health Information System in Fight Against National Health Threats

To protect public health and national safety, AMIA recommends that the federal government dedicate technologic resources and medical informatics expertise to create a national health information infrastructure (NHII). An NHII provides the underlying information utility that connects local health providers and health officials through high-speed networks to national data systems necessary to detect and track global threats to public health. AMIA strongly recommends the accelerated development and wide-scale deployment of electronic public health surveillance systems, computer-based patient records, and disaster-response information technologies. Such efforts hold the greatest potential to protect our citizens from disaster and to deliver the best health care if disaster strikes.To protect public health and national safety, AMIA recommends that the federal government dedicate technologic resources and medical informatics expertise to create a national health information infrastructure (NHII). An NHII provides the underlying information utility that connects local health providers and health officials through high-speed networks to national data systems (e.g., Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) necessary to detect and track global threats to public health.In the short term, this means adapting existing information systems to facilitate public health surveillance and emergency response. To establish a permanent infrastructure, AMIA strongly recommends the accelerated development and wide-scale deployment of electronic public health surveillance systems, computer-based patient records, and disaster-response information technologies. Such efforts hold the greatest potential to protect our citizens from disaster, and to deliver the best health care if disaster strikes.While meeting the acute needs of today, this initiative will begin laying the groundwork for a NHII that will continue to serve the health needs of the nation—a lasting endowment for future generations. Establishing an NHII requires thoughtful strategic planning and strong inter-agency leadership. Work on key components of the NHII must begin immediately. These key components include:

• Strategic planning and coordination. There must be a central coordinating entity that can quickly inventory existing public- and personal-health initiatives and develop a strategy to fashion a national system to protect Americans against health threats of various types, including biological, chemical, nuclear, and physical. The short-term strategy must be part of a framework for a permanent infrastructure that serves public health, patient care, and research.
• Connectivity and communications. Local, regional, and national coordination cannot exist without efficient, instantaneous communication. Public health services must be linked using secure connections to the Internet as an immediate top priority. AMIA recommends federal government funding to guarantee high-speed, dedicated access to the Internet for all public and private health care facilities and related organizations. Minimum-level workstations should be required, and adequate tools and training should be provided.
• Standards. Effective communication among local, community, state, and federal facilities require the use of standards. Health care messaging standards should be used for data interchange. A common vocabulary standard and required data elements for public health surveillance databases are required to enable effective sharing of data. Without a common vocabulary, data from local systems cannot be analyzed to detect emerging health threats. Government coordination and support for consensus standardization and low-cost distribution of common vocabularies for health event detection, prevention, and intervention are a fundamental aspect of an NHII.
• Resource databases. An up-to-date, central, Internet-based health resources directory containing information about available resources—knowledge, physical, and human—is vital to providing the timely information needed to manage any public health crisis. The national health resource directory would include information about physical resources, such as health care organizations, safety facilities, and environmental agencies; human resources, including physicians, nurses, and public health and support personnel; organizational resources, such as emergency medical services, county and city law enforcement agencies, and other emergency-response groups; and knowledge resources ranging from clinical guidelines to extensive clinical decision support algorithms related to threat vectors. Local health authorities must be trained in use of the directory to effectively derive maximal benefit when responding to national health threats.
• Public health surveillance systems. Effective public health practice and decision making depend on timely information, much of which is not readily available. Information about patients with clinical conditions of public health importance, symptoms compatible with prodromes of serious infection or exposure, health behaviors, and environmental risk factors must be collected, transmitted, aggregated, analyzed, and utilized for prompt decision making. Whether the health threat is biological, chemical, or nuclear, early detection and rapid response are essential. Existing public health systems in place and under development should be adapted to meet the current needs. Implementation of public health system initiatives such as the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System and Health Alert Network must be accelerated to meet the acute threat posed by bioterrorism.
• National identifiers. National identifiers for providers, insurers, businesses, and individuals are required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996. The privacy provision of HIPAA that protects confidential health information has been finalized. In the face of the acute crisis, the work on identifiers should be accelerated so that effective epidemiologic data can be gathered and analyzed and appropriate health care services delivered where needed.

AMIA is an organization of professionals who operate at the interface between health care and computer and information science. Our leadership and members are capable and willing to contribute to solving the acute situation while laying the foundation for a lasting infrastructure to manage health information for the benefit of patients and the public.TANG, National Health Information System Proposal     

First detection of chikungunya infection and transmission in Brunei Darussalam

This report describes the chikungunya cases and local transmission detected in Brunei Darussalam for the first time, despite the country being situated in a region that has experienced a multitude of outbreaks over the years. A combined strategy of active case detection, patient isolation and vector control measures was deployed in an attempt to avert further transmission. The findings have important public health implications for international surveillance and control strategies for this re-emerging disease.     

Using electronic health record alerts to provide public health situational awareness to clinicians

Alerting providers to public health situations requires timeliness and context-relevance, both lacking in current systems. Incorporating decision support tools into electronic health records may provide a way to deploy public health alerts to clinicians at the point of care. A timely process for responding to Health Alert Network messages sent by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene was developed by a network of community health centers. Alerts with order sets and recommended actions were created to notify primary care providers of local disease outbreaks. The process, effect, and lessons learned from alerts for Legionella, toxogenic E coli, and measles outbreaks are described. Electronic alerts have the potential to improve management of diseases during an outbreak, including appropriate laboratory testing, management guidance, and diagnostic assistance as well as to enhance bi-directional data exchange between clinical and public health organizations.     

浙江省人感染H7N9禽流感疫情半定量风险评估

目的: 评估浙江省人感染H7N9禽流感发生本地暴发疫情的风险,探索突发公共卫生事件风险的半定量评估方法。方法: 系统梳理人感染H7N9禽流感引起本地传播的风险评估指标体系,用层次分析法计算指标权重,再结合TOPSIS法计算风险综合指数。结果: 共识别人感染H7N9禽流感疫情风险评估一级指标4项、二级指标23项,权重值居前五位的依次为：发病率（0.0972）、休市关停措施（0.0718）、交易市场消毒措施（0.0673）、病死率（0.0651）和疫情波及范围（0.0616）。浙江省各地人感染H7N9禽流感本地暴发疫情的风险综合指数从高到低依次为：杭州（0.5910）、绍兴（0.5711）、嘉兴（0.5199）、台州（0.5198）、湖州（0.4662）、宁波（0.3828）、温州（0.3719）、金华（0.3392）、丽水（0.2727）、衢州（0.2001）和舟山（0.0508）。结论: 建立了人感染H7N9禽流感疫情风险评估指标体系,评估结果可为浙江省防控人感染H7N9禽流感疫情提供科学依据。     

An outbreak of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis in Melaka, Malaysia

This paper reports a second outbreak of acute haemorrhagic conjunctivitis due to coxsackievirus A24 in peninsular Malaysia. Between June 2002 and early October 2003, 10,327 patients, comprising 3,261 children and 7,066 adults, were treated for acute conjunctivitis in 11 government health clinics in the Melaka Tengah district of the state of Melaka. The figure grossly underestimates the size of the outbreak; as no patients treated in private clinics in the same district were included. Institution and household surveillance showed that the commonest presenting clinical feature of the illness was eye-discharge (91.2%), followed by foreign body sensation (81.8%), pain (78.3%) and subconjunctival haemorrhage (74.4%). The mean duration of illness was 6.5 and five days for patients with and without subconjunctival haemorrhage respectively.     

深圳市2012年流感监测结果分析

目的通过对2012年深圳市流感监测结果进行分析,探索流感流行规律,为制定流感防治措施提供依据。方法收集全市哨点医院的流感样病例数据,病原学检测结果和暴发疫情资料进行分析。结果2012年深圳市的流感样病例占门诊急诊就诊总数百分比（ILI％）为4．15％,波动在3．16～5．56％之间。2012年全市哨点医院共采集ILI咽拭标本3776份,分离出474株流感病毒,阳性率为12．6％,其中264株季节H3亚型（55．7％）,150株B（Victoria,31．6％）亚型,55株B（Yamagata,11．6％）亚型,4株季节H1亚型（0．8％）,1株甲型H1N1亚型（0．2％）。2012年全市报告了87起ILI暴发疫情,流感PCR检测阳性74起,其中乙型23起（26．7％）,季节性甲型46起（53．5％）,季节性甲型和乙型混合感染5起（5．8％）。结论2012年深圳市流感活动较低,主要在上半年流行,3月初和6月初出现流行高峰。     

微生物实验室如何应对突发公共卫生事件

目的:本研究的目的在于探讨微生物实验室如何应对突发公共卫生事件。方法:通过查阅国内外微生物实验室应对突发公共卫生事件的相关资料和总结微生物实验室实际工作经验提出应对方案。结果:通过研究,提出了建立预案、进行人员培训、对仪器设备不断进行更新配备与核查、适量储备消耗性材料、选择合适的方法、充分利用当地医疗机构的资源、配备必要的生物安全设施及与流行病学医生等合作与沟通的一整套方案。结论:微生物实验室在面对突发公共卫生事件时,采取上述方案能够快速、有效地应对突发公共卫生事件,变被动为主动,从而认为该方案是安全有效的工作方式。     

Health care and illness in Lihir, New Ireland Province, in the context of the development of the Lihir gold mine

During 2000 a review of health care and illness in Lihir, New Ireland Province, was carried out while I was employed as a Community Health Research Officer with the Lihir Management Company, the manager of a gold mine on Lihir. The review aim was to document the health care providers for the local population and the illness burden suffered by Lihirians, and then to shape services to have a more preventive emphasis. It was discovered that the health care services available were well utilized by Lihirians. Health care was provided by the church, government and the mining company, and needed better coordination of services. Lihirians faced a relatively heavy burden of illness, with malaria the most common affliction. They also suffered significantly from lymphatic filariasis and tuberculosis, and children were poorly nourished. A considerable number of recommendations have been adopted since the health review to improve the health of, and delivery of health services to Lihirians.     

Bioterrorism : A Public Health Perspective

The intentional release or threat of release of biologic agents (i.e. viruses, bacteria, fungi or their toxins) in order to cause disease or death among human population or food crops and livestock to terrorize a civilian population or manipulate the government in the present scenario of increased terrorist activity has become a real possibility. The most important step in the event of a bioterrorist attack is the identification of the event. This can be achieved by generating awareness, having high degree of suspicion and having a good surveillance system to assist quick detection.Bioterrorist attacks could be covert or announced and caused by virtually any pathogenic microorganism. Bioterrorist agents of major concern have been categorized as A, B and C based on the priority of the agents to pose a risk to the national security and the ease with which they can be disseminated. The five phases of activities in dealing with a bioterrorist attack are preparedness phase, early warning phase, notification phase, response phase and recovery phase.A bioterrorism attack in a public place is a public health emergency. Early detection and rapid investigation is the key to contain such attacks. The role of public health epidemiologist is critical not only in determining the scope and magnitude of the attack but also in effective implementation of interventions.Key Words: Bioterrorism, Anthrax, Botulism, Plague, Smallpox, Public health emergency, Category A, B and C agents     

The EpiCanvas infectious disease weather map: an interactive visual exploration of temporal and spatial correlations

Advances in surveillance science have supported public health agencies in tracking and responding to disease outbreaks. Increasingly, epidemiologists have been tasked with interpreting multiple streams of heterogeneous data arising from varied surveillance systems. As a result public health personnel have experienced an overload of plots and charts as information visualization techniques have not kept pace with the rapid expansion in data availability. This study sought to advance the science of public health surveillance data visualization by conceptualizing a visual paradigm that provides an 'epidemiological canvas' for detection, monitoring, exploration and discovery of regional infectious disease activity and developing a software prototype of an 'infectious disease weather map'. Design objectives were elucidated and the conceptual model was developed using cognitive task analysis with public health epidemiologists. The software prototype was pilot tested using retrospective data from a large, regional pediatric hospital, and gastrointestinal and respiratory disease outbreaks were re-created as a proof of concept.     

Public Health Response for the 1996 Olympic Games

Patrick Meehan, MD; Kathleen E. Toomey, MD, MPH; James Drinnon; Samuel Cunningham; Nancy Anderson, MMSc; Edward Baker, MD, MPH

JAMA. 1998;279:1469-1473.

Extensive planning and preparation by public health agencies were required for the provision of public health services during the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, which brought together more than 10000 athletes from 197 countries and more than 2 million visitors. Public health activities included the development and use of an augmented surveillance system to monitor health conditions and detect disease outbreaks; creation and implementation of 6 environmental health regulations; establishment of a central Public Health Command Center and response teams to coordinate response to public health emergencies; planning for potential mass casualties and the provision of emergency medical services; implementation of strategies for the prevention of heat-related illness; and distribution of health promotion and disease prevention information. Public health agencies should take the lead in organizing and implementing a system for preventing and managing public health issues at future large-scale public events such as the Olympics.

     

法制视野下政府对农村突发公共卫生事件的规制

目的:从法律视角寻求突发公共卫生事件保障与公民权利保护的平衡点,构建基于人权保障的农村突发公共卫生事件的法律规制?方法:透过对《突发事件应对法》的实施实践,探求宏观意义上农村卫生应急体系的完善和整合?结果:在农村卫生应急体系中,克服卫生资源配置不均的关键来自于政府的有效管制?结论:完善农村突发公共卫生事件应急的法律规制,需要依靠政府运用法律手段实现彼此之间功能的协调与衔接?