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No. 3, 2006
EIS Conference a Success for DTBE
The 55th
annual Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference was held in
Atlanta April 24–28, 2006. Every year this conference serves as a
robust mix of scientific presentations by current EIS Officers and
recruitment activities for the incoming class of EIS Officers.
Members of the incoming class spend the week meeting with
representatives of programs throughout CDC, interviewing with
programs that interest them, and then being matched to a program for
their 2-year assignment.
Every year, DTBE
actively promotes the work of its current EIS Officers and recruits
from the new class. This year’s conference was a big success on both
counts for DTBE.
In regards to the presentations, the six current DTBE
EIS Officers had eight abstracts accepted for presentation. Five
were presented during this year’s TB session, “TB or Not TB? That Is
the Question,” moderated by DTBE Director Kenneth G. Castro, MD. The
session was well attended with standing room only. Presentations
included summaries of a number of the TB-related epidemiologic
investigations that were conducted recently in collaboration with
our TB control partners in state and local health departments, and
in international settings.
Three papers were
presented outside the TB session. Kevin Cain, MD, presented one of
his investigations during the opening session moderated by CDC
Director Julie Gerberding, MD. Sekai Chideya, MD, presented her work
during the Wednesday poster session, and Eric Pevzner, PhD,
presented one of his investigations during the Late-Breaker session,
“The Latest and Greatest,” moderated by EIS Director Douglas
Hamilton, MD. Additionally, Shona Dalal, PhD, EIS Officer assigned
to the Global AIDS Program (GAP), presented results from an
investigation conducted in Nairobi that was supported by both DTBE
and GAP. The tuberculosis presentations are listed below.
Rana Jawad
Asghar, MD, an officer
assigned to the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Outbreak
Investigations Branch, DTBE, presented “Tuberculosis Outbreak
Investigation in a Crack House Reveals Limited Use of Traditional
Contact Investigation Methods—Miami, 2004–2005."
Kevin Cain,
MD, an officer assigned
to the International Research and Programs Branch, DTBE, presented
both “An Evidence-Based
Approach to Improving Tuberculosis Screening in Persons with HIV
Infection—Cambodia, 2005," and "Retrospective Cohort Study of the
Impact of Surgery on Treatment Outcomes among Multidrug-Resistant
Tuberculosis Patients—Latvia, 1997–2002."
Sekai
Chedeya, MD, an officer
assigned to the International Research and Programs Branch, DTBE,
presented “Use of Classification and Regression Tree (CART) Analysis
to Develop a Diagnostic Decision Tree to Detect Tuberculosis among
Sputum Smear-Negative HIV-Infected Persons in Botswana.”
Shona Dalal,
PhD, an officer assigned
to the Global AIDS Program, presented “Risk for Tuberculosis Among
Staff at a Nairobi Hospital: The Price of Serving the Community—Kenya,
2005.”
Michele
Hlavsa, RN, MPH, an
officer assigned to the Surveillance, Epidemiology and Outbreak
Investigations Branch, DTBE, presented “Uninterrupted
Mycobacterium tuberculosis Transmission in a Rural Community—Indiana.”
Eric
Pevzner, PhD, an officer
assigned to the International Research and Programs Branch, DTBE,
presented both “Evaluation of
Access to and Acceptance of HIV Testing Among Patients with
Tuberculosis—Rwanda, 2005,” and “Tuberculosis Outbreak Among People
Using Methamphetamines— Snohomish County, Washington, 2005–2006.”
Sarita Shah, MD, an officer assigned to the International Research and Programs Branch,
DTBE, presented "Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR TB):
Global Survey of Supranational Reference Laboratories for
Mycobacterium tuberculosis with Resistance to Second-line Drugs."
Awards were
presented to Kevin Cain, MD, and Kashef Ijaz, MD. Kevin was awarded
the Paul C. Schnitker International Award for having made a
significant contribution to international public health. Kashef was
awarded the Philip S. Brachman Award for contributions that have
made an important difference to the health, welfare, and happiness
of the EIS officers and the EIS program. Since 2000, Dr. Ijaz has
mentored numerous EIS officers during tuberculosis outbreak
investigations.
In the meeting’s
recruitment activities, DTBE was successful in matching two new EIS
Officers to assignments in the Division. Dr. Heather Lynch (soon to
be Menzies) will be joining the International Research and Programs
Branch, and Dr. Ann M. Buff will be joining the Surveillance,
Epidemiology, and Outbreak Investigations Branch. Please see the
Personnel Notes section of this issue for more information about
these two new officers. They will arrive in July
and August 2006 and join
Drs. Michele Hlavsa, Eric Pevzner, and Sekai Chedeya to give the
division five EIS Officers.
Reported by John Oeltmann, PhD
Div of TB Elimination