Disease surveillance
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Disease surveillance is an
In modern times, reporting incidences of disease outbreaks has been transformed from manual record keeping, to instant worldwide internet communication.
The number of cases could be gathered from hospitals – which would be expected to see most of the occurrences – collated, and eventually made public. With the advent of modern
Mandatory reporting
Formal reporting of
World Health Organization
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The World Health Organization (WHO) is the lead agency for coordinating global response to major diseases. The WHO maintains Websites for a number of diseases and has active teams in many countries where these diseases occur.[3]
During the SARS outbreak in early 2004, for example, the
]WHO's Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response (EPR) to detect, verify rapidly and respond appropriately to epidemic-prone and emerging disease threats covers the following diseases:[5]
- Anthrax
- Avian influenza
- Crimean–Congo hemorrhagic fever
- Dengue hemorrhagic fever
- Ebola virus disease
- Hepatitis
- Influenza
- Lassa fever
- Marburg hemorrhagic fever
- Meningococcal disease
- Plague
- Rift Valley fever
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS)
- Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2)
- Smallpox
- Tularemia
- Yellow fever
Political challenges
As the lead organization in global public health, the WHO occupies a delicate role in global politics. It must maintain good relationships with each of the many countries in which it is active. As a result, it may only report results within a particular country with the agreement of the country's government. Because some governments regard the release of any information on disease outbreaks as a state secret, this can place the WHO in a difficult position.[citation needed]
The WHO coordinated International Outbreak Alert and Response is designed to ensure "outbreaks of potential international importance are rapidly verified and information is quickly shared within the Network" but not necessarily by the public; integrate and coordinate "activities to support national efforts" rather than challenge national authority within that nation in order to "respect the independence and objectivity of all partners". The commitment that "All Network responses will proceed with full respect for ethical standards, human rights, national and local laws, cultural sensitivities and tradition" ensures each nation that its security, financial, and other interests will be given full weight.[6]
Technical challenges
Testing for a disease can be expensive, and distinguishing between two diseases can be prohibitively difficult in many countries. One standard means of determining if a person has had a particular disease is to test for the presence of
There is currently little available data on the spread of H5N1 in wild birds in Africa and Asia. Without such data, predicting how the disease might spread in the future is difficult. Information that scientists and decision makers need to make useful medical products and informed decisions for health care, but currently lack include:[citation needed]
- Surveillance of wild bird populations
- Cell cultures of particular strains of diseases
H5N1
Surveillance of
H5N1 in China is less than fully reported. Blogs have described many discrepancies between official China government announcements concerning H5N1 and what people in China see with their own eyes. Many reports of total H5N1 cases have excluded China due to widespread disbelief in China's official numbers.[7][8][9][10] (See Disease surveillance in China.)
"Only half the world's human bird flu cases are being reported to the World Health Organization within two weeks of being detected, a response time that must be improved to avert a pandemic, a senior WHO official said Saturday. Shigeru Omi, WHO's regional director for the Western Pacific, said it is estimated that countries would have only two to three weeks to stamp out, or at least slow, a pandemic flu strain after it began spreading in humans."[11]
David Nabarro, chief avian flu coordinator for the United Nations, says avian flu has too many unanswered questions.[12][13]
See also
- 1985 World Health Organization AIDS surveillance case definition
- AIDS-defining clinical condition – CDC list of diseases associated with AIDS
- Bioterrorism#Biosurveillance – Terrorism involving biological agents
- Disease surveillance in China – Main public health surveillance activity in China
- Public health surveillance – Collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data
- Predictive analytics – Statistical techniques analyzing facts to make predictions about unknown events
- Pandemic prevention – Organization and management of preventive measures against pandemics
- Contact tracing – Finding and identifying people in contact with someone with an infectious disease
- Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists – non-profit organization
- Early Warning and Response System (EWRS) – European communicable disease communication system
- Global Infectious Disease Epidemiology Network (GIDEON) – Medical decision support system (GIDEON)
- Infection control– Medical discipline for preventing nosocomial or healthcare-associated infection
- List of notifiable diseases
- STD testing– Infection transmitted through human sexual behavior
- UK statutory notification system
References
- ^ "Disease Surveillance". The Task Force for Global Health. Retrieved 2020-11-08.
- ^ a b "WHO Chronology of SARS". Archived from the original on 2004-02-23.
- ^ "About WHO". www.who.int. Retrieved 2022-04-13.
- ^ "WHO Influenza". Archived from the original on 2004-02-01.
- ^ "WHO EPR". Archived from the original on 2003-02-23.
- ^ "WHO Outbreak Network". Archived from the original on 2003-08-08.
- ^ "WHO: H5N1 avian flu timeline" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-27.
- ^ "WHO: Cases by country". Archived from the original on 2006-02-13.
- ^ "WHO: Influenza A(H5N1) in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China – Update 2". Archived from the original on 2003-08-22.
- ^ "WHO: Update 95 - SARS: Chronology of a serial killer". Archived from the original on 2003-07-09.
- ^ "White House says no 'surprise' bills for COVID-19 patients". ABC News. AP. 2006-05-07.
- ^ "NYT article picked up by IHT".
- ^ "Scientific Seminar on Avian Influenza, the Environment and Migratory Birds on 10–11 April 2006". International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). 2006-04-14.
- ^ "new US government Web site". Archived from the original on 2006-09-28.
- ^ "New Web tool tracks H5N1 testing of US wild birds". CIDRAP News. 2006-08-25.
Further reading
- CDC: Influenza Activity – United States and Worldwide, 2003–2004 Season, and Composition of the 2004–2005 Influenza Vaccine
- Global Outbreak Alert & Response Network
- WHO Alert & Response Operations
- WHO Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Web site
- WHO Avian Influenza Web site
- Sickweather Archived 2021-12-06 at the Wayback Machine The world's first real-time social media disease surveillance tool
- HealthMap The HealthMap real-time automated surveillance system is a program of Children's Hospital Boston with support from Google.org
- GermTrax Tracking the spread of sickness and disease with the help of social media
- ProMED-mail Archived 2007-12-26 at the