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Biosecur Bioterror. 2010 Sep;8(3):233-242.
Response to H1N1 in a U.S.-Mexico Border Community.
McCormick JB, Yan C, Ballou J, Salinas Y, Reininger B, Gay J, Calvillo F, Wilson JG, Lopez L, Fisher-Hoch SP.
Joseph B. McCormick, MD, is James H. Steele Professor and Regional Dean, Brownsville Regional Campus; Chris Yan is a graduate student; Jessica Ballou, MPH, is a graduate student; Belinda Reininger, DrPH, is an Associate Professor; Jennifer Gay, PhD, is an Assistant Professor; J. Gaines Wilson is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science; and Susan P. Fisher-Hoch, MD, is a Professor; all are at the University of Texas School of Public Health , Brownsville, Texas. Yvette Salinas is a Health Administrator; Fidel Calvillo is Public Health Preparedness Supervisor; and Leonel Lopez is a public health advisor; all are at the Cameron County Department of Health Services, Brownsville, Texas.
Abstract
Public health experts from a county health department and a school of public health collaborated to establish a simple, functional surveillance system to monitor swine-origin influenza virus as it crossed from Mexico into a Texas border community during the 2009 pandemic. The draft national and state preparedness plans were found to be cumbersome at the local level, so a simple, more practical real-time surveillance and response system was developed, in part by modifying these documents, and immediately implemented. Daily data analyses, including geographical information system mapping of cases and reports of school and daycare absences, were used for outbreak management. Aggregate reports of influenzalike illness and primary school absences were accurate in predicting influenza activity and were practical for use in local tracking, making decisions, and targeting interventions. These simple methods should be considered for local implementation and for integration into national recommendations for epidemic preparedness and response.
PMID: 20825334 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Response to H1N1 in a U.S.-Mexico Border Community.
McCormick JB, Yan C, Ballou J, Salinas Y, Reininger B, Gay J, Calvillo F, Wilson JG, Lopez L, Fisher-Hoch SP.
Joseph B. McCormick, MD, is James H. Steele Professor and Regional Dean, Brownsville Regional Campus; Chris Yan is a graduate student; Jessica Ballou, MPH, is a graduate student; Belinda Reininger, DrPH, is an Associate Professor; Jennifer Gay, PhD, is an Assistant Professor; J. Gaines Wilson is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Science; and Susan P. Fisher-Hoch, MD, is a Professor; all are at the University of Texas School of Public Health , Brownsville, Texas. Yvette Salinas is a Health Administrator; Fidel Calvillo is Public Health Preparedness Supervisor; and Leonel Lopez is a public health advisor; all are at the Cameron County Department of Health Services, Brownsville, Texas.
Abstract
Public health experts from a county health department and a school of public health collaborated to establish a simple, functional surveillance system to monitor swine-origin influenza virus as it crossed from Mexico into a Texas border community during the 2009 pandemic. The draft national and state preparedness plans were found to be cumbersome at the local level, so a simple, more practical real-time surveillance and response system was developed, in part by modifying these documents, and immediately implemented. Daily data analyses, including geographical information system mapping of cases and reports of school and daycare absences, were used for outbreak management. Aggregate reports of influenzalike illness and primary school absences were accurate in predicting influenza activity and were practical for use in local tracking, making decisions, and targeting interventions. These simple methods should be considered for local implementation and for integration into national recommendations for epidemic preparedness and response.
PMID: 20825334 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
