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Helpful Tips for Drinking Water Outbreak Response
General
- Establish
key contacts at partner institutions such as other local or state
health departments, laboratories, the media, daycare centers, etc.
Check
resources and contingency plans. If your health department is low
on resources, think ahead to what types of equipment or other resources
may be needed in the outbreak response. Perhaps your state health
department or nearby local health departments will be able to share
resources. Share
information with other health departments and facilities. This
can speed up the investigation process and help health departments
fill knowledge gaps. At
the beginning of an outbreak it’s important to identify as many
confirmed cases as possible to help find the source of the outbreak.
This can be done through mass mailings, newspaper ads, etc.
- If
possible, establish a hotline for outbreak-related calls.
- Go to
Chapter 5 “Outbreak Management” in the Cryptosporidium
and Water Handbook
 (1.12 MB, 151 pages) for more detailed outbreak management tips; it is
specific to Cryptosporidium outbreaks but parts can be applied to outbreaks
caused by other pathogens.
Laboratories
- At the beginning of the investigation, get a realistic idea of the turnaround time on lab tests.
- If the labs are backlogged, consider using private labs/hospitals.
- CDC’s
DPDx offers technical
assistance for state and local health department laboratorians,
including reference and training; and diagnostic assistance.
Communications with other health departments or agencies
- Make periodic, regularly scheduled conference calls with established key contacts. Keep everyone informed, plan next steps, share information, etc.
- Decide what information is to be shared and how to share it.
- Decide on a mechanism to use in sharing information, such as e-mail or fax. Make sure all channels of communication are in working order.
Checklists
- Keep a log of phone calls regarding the outbreak.
- Document the number of man/woman hours spent on the outbreak for future
budgetary/resource reference.
Media relations
- Establish contact points with media sources.
- If necessary, form a working group to establish good relationships with the media.
- Give them fact sheets on the pathogen.
- Send out frequent updates to keep the media correctly informed.
Press release
- When
putting together a press release on the pathogen, include any information
from existing pathogen-specific fact sheets. You can download any
information needed from the CDC
Division of Parasitic Diseases Web Site on your health department’s
own site so that the press and any concerned citizens may access
the information easily.
- Most
press releases should include appropriate information regarding
person, place, and time related to the outbreak.
- Consider being somewhat vague when reporting the number of cases to give room for decreasing or increasing case counts as tests are verified or case definitions change. For example, you can say “greater than” or “less than (x) cases,” rather than give exact numbers.
Please note: Some of these publications are available for download only as *.pdf files. These files require Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to be viewed. Please review the information on downloading and using Acrobat Reader software.
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