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About the Bacterial Diseases Branch

What is the Mission of the Bacterial Diseases Branch?
The mission of the Bacterial Diseases Branch is to 1) develop and maintain surveillance for vector-borne Bacterial Diseases with emphasis on Lyme disease, plague, tularemia, bartonellosis, and tick-borne relapsing fever; 2) provide consultation, laboratory services, epidemiologic services, and epidemic aid to local and state health departments and to national and international agencies for these same diseases; 3) conduct laboratory and field research on vector-borne Bacterial Diseases to improve diagnosis, prevention, and control; 4) train technical and professional personnel in diagnostic, reference, and research laboratory methods, epidemiology, disease ecology and control; 5) function as a WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Plague Control and the National Center for Lyme Disease Reference and Research.

  • Diagnostic and Reference Section: 1) Provides diagnostic and reference services for Lyme disease, plague, tularemia, and relapsing fever to the other CDC divisions and to local, state, national and international agencies; 2) prepares diagnostic and reference reagents; 3) conducts research on the development and application of new and improved diagnostic techniques; 4) conducts tests on rodent, flea, and tick specimens from field studies to determine the presence of infection with Bacterial Diseases; 5) participates in epidemiologic studies of these diseases; 6) provides training on laboratory diagnosis of bacterial zoonotic infections; 7) maintains molecular epidemiology database of bacterial zoonotic disease agents; 8) serves the diagnostic and reference functions of the National Center for Reference and Research on Lyme Disease and the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Plague Control.
  • Epidemiology Section: 1) Develops and maintains national and international surveillance for vector-borne bacterial diseases, with emphasis on Lyme disease and plague; 2) conducts outbreak and other epidemiologic investigations of these diseases and provides recommendations for their prevention and control; 3) provides authoritative advice on clinical and laboratory diagnosis of Bacterial Diseases, their treatment, prevention and control; 4) conducts epidemiologic field studies to measure risk factors for disease transmission; 5) helps develop and evaluate new strategies for diagnosis, prevention and control of vector-borne bacterial diseases; 6) serves the epidemiologic investigation and clinical consultative functions of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Plague Control, and the National Center for Lyme Disease Reference and Research.
  • Lyme Disease Vector Section: 1) Provides consultation and assistance in outbreak and other epidemiologic investigations of Lyme disease and related borrelioses; 2) conducts research on the biology and ecology of tick vectors of Lyme disease and related borrelioses with emphasis on developing improved surveillance, prevention, and control of the tick vectors of Lyme disease; 3) defines parameters affecting vector competence of Ixodes ticks, and determines vector competence of tick species in other genera; 4) identifies and quantitatively characterizes vector-associated factors that place persons in endemic areas at risk of acquiring Lyme disease; 5) develops and evaluates intervention strategies directed at the tick vectors for prevention and control of Lyme disease; 6) improves laboratory colonization methods for tick vectors and maintains colonies of selected species; 7) improves current methods and develops new methods for detection and isolation of spirochetes from ticks; 8) coordinates and participates in CDC training courses and revises and prepares training manuals on vectors of Lyme disease; 9) serves the entomologic, ecologic investigation, prevention and control functions of the National Center for Reference and Research on Lyme Disease.
  • Molecular Bacteriology Section: 1) Conducts basic and applied research on the biology of vector-borne bacterial disease agents, including Lyme disease, plague, tularemia, relapsing fever, and other bacterial zoonoses; 2) identifies, characterizes, and produces products that permit improved diagnosis of bacterial infections, particularly Lyme disease; 3) develops and utilizes molecular techniques to study bacterial strain diversity as it relates to pathogenesis, origin and transmission; 4) identifies and characterizes bacterial products which are important in virulence and disease pathogenesis; 5) identifies and evaluates candidate immunogens which may be useful as vaccines; 6) provides expertise and training in the molecular analysis of bacterial disease agents; 7) provides consultation in the areas of virulence mechanisms, plasmids and other genetic elements, bacterial genetics, and recombinant DNA.
  • Plague Section: 1) Develops and maintains national and international surveillance for plague; 2) plans and conducts field investigations on the epidemiology, ecology, and control of plague and tularemia; 3) provides technical consultation, assistance, and epidemic aid to state and local health departments and to national and international agencies; 4) confirms and investigates human plague cases and prepares surveillance reports on plague in the United States for CDC and WHO; 5) provides training to state and local health authorities on prevention and control of plague; 6) serves the entomologic, ecologic investigation, prevention and control functions of the WHO Collaborating Center for Reference and Research on Plague Control.
DVBID Organizational Structure
The organizational structure of DVBID includes three branches that compose the division: the Arbovirus Diseases Branch, the Bacterial Diseases Branch, and the Dengue Branch (located in San Juan, Puerto Rico).
   

 

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This page last reviewed June 3, 2008

Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases |
National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (NCZVED) |
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