TB Notes Newsletter

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No. 3, 2006

EIS Conference a Success for DTBE

The 55^th 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