Background
Disease Surveillance forms the cornerstone of public health.Implementation of prevention and control measures such as vaccination, safe drinking water standards, safe food handling practices, and vector control have significantly reduced the burden of infectious diseases over the past several decades. Although we are in the midst of several eradication and elimination programs, we face the challenges of new and virulent strains of diseases emerging. Such challenges are necessitating improvements in current passive surveillance efforts.
Objectives
- Answer data calls from all echelons using existing datastreams, including routine data requests, ad hoc case findings to support public health investigations, and ad hoc studies to support decisions on emerging disease threats
- Maintain the Department of Navy's Reportable Medical Event surveillance program
- Evaluate existing datastreams for use in improving surveillance in the Department of Navy and Department of Defense
- Create methods for estimating burden of disease and likelihood of disease given positive lab test, medication dispensed, radiological impression, and/or ICD-9 coded visit or admission
- Develop Department of Navy's role in ESSENCE IV monitoring
- Establish antibiotic resistance surveillance in the Department of Navy
Methodology Development
Methods for data assessment, estimating burden of disease, establishing validity of datastreams, and identifying true cases of disease in existing datastreams need to be identified and/or developed in order to accomplish the objectives stated above. The following projects are currently underway to develop methods for accomplishing our goals.
Capture-recapture
This project establishes a modification of the conventional capture-recapture technique for use in evaluating sensitivity and specificity of surveillance systems and other datastreams
Product Lines
Reportable Medical Events
ESSENCE IV
Pandemic Influenza
VAERS
Content last reviewed on April 14, 2009.