Public Health Surveillance System

At the peak of the 2014-2015 Seasonal Influenza Pandemic in the United States, 9.3% of all deaths reported in the 122 Cities Mortality Reporting System were attributed to Pneumonia and Influenza (P&I), underscoring how lethal the flu can be, especially to people who are already sick, children, and the elderly. In the first week of February 2015, over 60% of influenza-associated hospitalizations involved patients 65 and older, the highest rate since the CDC began tracking that data in 2005. Extrapolating that, more than 92,000 people aged 65 and older had been hospitalized

This information will help investigators cluster the symptoms with a particular disease and rule out irrelevant information. The surveillance of the components gather in this step will put a perspective on the abnormal health events that are occurring on the outbreak timeline.

Is it Worth the Shot? I am a living thing and I need you in order to survive. I am invisible. I move silently, floating through the air or laying patiently to plunge my next victim. I’m sure I have knocked you off your feet several times. I am the

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 is still being discussed. In the public health sector it is used as an example of the viruses potential power, if we do not continue to prepare, educate the public and vaccinate on a global scale. Let’s think back to that time were

When infection and disease that are of high public health importance are diagnosed by laboratories and doctors they are required to report this information to local, state, and national agencies such as The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Shaw & Elliott (2012) says, “This permits surveillance (that is, the collection of statistics on the frequency with which the disease occurs), which in turn allows these agencies to identify trends in disease occurrence as well as disease outbreaks” (pg. 158).

Influenza strikes this country in pandemic proportions every year. Although there are many factors contributing to morbidity and mortality, the mortality rate varies from year to year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in the thirty year range from 1976 to 2006, saw death rates from a low of 3000 to a high of 49000 (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016). So far this season, there have been 3697 deaths from influenza related illness (CDC, 2016). In 2009, the virulent H1N1 strain, with a 20% risk of death, also brought the difficulties of lack of research based clinical evidence for treatments (Cook, et al., 2010). The lack of research conducted during pandemics stems from the delay caused by the often

Many now ignore the fact diseases can still affect us, even though currently since so many people travel it causes us to be more susceptible than ever. Countries trade now more than ever, causing the chance for diseases to spread faster than ever. Since an epidemic might be around the next bend, we need to start putting a plan into place so we can be ready when the next epidemic comes.A big worry of Tyler Kokjohn and Cooper Kimbal, the next epidemic will again be just like that common flu that we experience every year. The worry is that the response time will not be quick enough because people will just suspect that it is the yearly flu. A part that goes into saving lives is how health organizations respond, in order to prevent deaths they need to respond both quickly and effectively to information that they receive about possible small outbreaks of the disease (Kokjohn). Professionals have concerns regarding slow response times to epidemic outbreaks. Kokjohn says, “Unfortunately, influenza surveillance is an especially weak link in the chain of public-health protection. Exactly where, when, and (most important) how quickly and reliably the emergence of a new flu virus with pandemic potential is recognized will determine whether a vaccine can be produced before the virus spreads across the world. People and products now traverse the planet with ease, meaning that a future flu pandemic may engulf the world with

Core Functions of Epidemiology Michele L. Gilbert Southern New Hampshire University Abstract This paper defines and explains the six core functions of epidemiology: Public health surveillance, field investigation, analytic studies, evaluations, linkages, and policy development. The core functions of epidemiology lay down a foundation on which epidemiologists can begin to work from. This paper will look at the benefits of incorporating all six of these functions into a working plan when health officials, medical personnel, first responders, etc., encounter a disease or illness that needs to be identified, treated and contained.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) defined the role of public health as “fulfilling society’s interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy” (IOM, 2011). Prevention of epidemics and the spread of disease, protection against environmental hazards, promotion of health, disaster response and recovery, and providing access to healthcare

It is important to have systems that are constructed similarly and able to communicate with each other. Syndromic surveillance has been accepted as a way to monitor disease outbreaks and bioterrorism attacks (Chen et al., 2010). According to Henning (2004), “Syndromic surveillance systems seek to use existing health data in real time to provide immediate analysis and feedback to those charged with investigation and follow-up of potential outbreaks.” Additionally, “The fundamental objective of syndromic surveillance is to identify illness clusters early, before diagnoses are confirmed and reported to public health agencies, and to mobilize a rapid response, thereby reducing morbidity and mortality” (Henning, 2004). Evaluation of the success of this type of surveillance can be monitored based on the data reported to and archived by the

Effective surveillance and notification aids stakeholders in policy development, preventive strategies and funding of treatment programmes. This paper will examine and evaluate attributes of the surveillance and notification systems for Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome in Australia, drawing on international literature and best practice guidelines. The scope of this evaluation involves investigating actions of the key stakeholders such as clinicians, state and federal health agencies and patients. In particular, the Communicable Disease Network in Australia, and OzFoodNet, will be assessed alongside the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in America.

The objective of the core public health is to educate, and prevent disease within communities. In this particular case, the public health nurses can use an inoculation program to prevent the new strain of influenza. The syndromic surveillance system is public health data would use to determine the need for this program. The syndromic surveillance system is a computer system that is used to control all information sources that concerns public health, and early detection of the infectious CDC) disease (McGonigle, 2014, Pg.302). The Public health data can be found at the center for disease control In order for this program to be successful, we need to collect data from ambulance log sheets, school or work absenteeism, prescriptions filled, retail

The virus has been studied in detail during 2009-2010. Being a complex virus, it is important to study the current scenario and the trends of the circulating virus. During 2015, the incidence of pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza virus among patients presenting with ILI, diagnosed in our tertiary care hospital during the study period was 18.6%. In the 2012-2013 the incidence of pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza virus among patients presenting with ILI, was 8.20% indicating a sharp increase in the number of cases. 9 After 2010, the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza A reappeared in several northern and western states of the country during the winter months of 2012-2013. The presently ongoing resurgence since December 2014 however appears to be worse than the previous one, leading to over 30,000 cases and 2000 deaths countrywide (as of 28th March,2015) as compared to 5044 cases and 405 deaths in 2012 and 5250 cases and 692 deaths in 2013.10 The resurgent waves lead to more number of hospitalizations and deaths due to pdmH1N1 as compared to the rest part of the year and appear at an interval of 1.5-2

Influenza A (H1N1) is a virus with multiple strains that causes human influenza. The H1N1 are endemic in humans and causes influenza-like illness during the flu season. In 2009, when the influenza virus emerged, it highlighted the importance of having infrastructures to conduct research. This would allow public health officials to manage patients for emerging viruses. Much of the surveillance systems for influenza are laboratory-based or anti-viral resistance monitoring. The lab base focuses on variant virus strains for vaccination. Anti-viral resistance includes clinical data on hospital or outpatients with no follow up. Much of the data from the previous cohort studies on the clinical outcomes and prognostic factors of influenza-infected

The world has experienced a total of four pandemics within the twentieth century. These pandemics, as horrific and deadly as they are, have brought so much more positive advances to our health care system and how we prepare for biological threats. Although we are in the twenty-first century and we have advanced so far in healthcare, there is still the possibility of a deadly pandemic.