Monitoring Outbreaks

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Overviewand General Information

Surveillance, monitoring and tracking disease outbreaks helps health officials allocate resources effectively and efficiently. Epidemiologists use monitoring data to predict where and how disease might spread. It is important to know where disease outbreaks not only begin in the world, but also how and where they might spread in the United States. A primary goal of flu monitoring is to identify any outbreak of human-to-human transmission quickly so health officials can attempt to contain and control the outbreak.

• Global Influenza Surveillance (World Health Organization)
  Learn about the WHO global influenza surveillance network comprising four WHO Collaboration Centres and 112 institutions in 83 countries.
• European Influenza Surveillance Scheme (European Commission)
  Read about the European Union's surveillance network comprising roughly 13,000 physicians and covering a total population of 464 million inhabitants.
• Weekly Epidemiological Record (WER) (World Health Organization)
  Epidemiology is the study of distribution and determinants of disease in a population. Read about cases and outbreaks and how they affect public health.
• The WHO Animal Influenza Network (World Health Organization)
  Learn about research on animal influenza viruses with the goal of understanding why and how they infect humans
• Animal Production and Health Division (Food and Agriculture Organization)
  Read about how the FAO responses to the threat of severe animal diseases.
• WHO Draft Protocol for Rapid Response and Containment  (PDF - 194 KB) (World Health Organization)
  The protocol has four main parts: recognition of the signal or "triggering" event; immediate actions following recognition of the signal; actions that should be undertaken once the event has been verified, the overall situation has been assessed, and a decision has been made to launch the rapid containment operation; and information about the deployment of the global antiviral stockpile.
• USAID Provides Funding for Pandemic Flu Preparedness The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provides funding for developing countries' preparation for a potential influenza pandemic.

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H1N1 (Swine Flu)

H1N1: United States Monitoring

• U.S. map of human cases of H1N1 (swine flu) infection (http://pandemicflu.gov/whereyoulive/index.html)
• Main CDC H1N1 Investigation Page
• Screening in Regions with Few or no Reported Cases (CDC)
• Specimen Collection, Processing, and Testing for Suspected Infection (CDC)
• Use of Rapid Influenza Diagnostic Tests (CDC)
• Submission of Tissue Specimens for Pathologic Evaluation (CDC)
• Case Definitions to be Used For Investigations of Swine Influenza A (H1N1) Cases (CDC)

H1N1: Global Monitoring

• World Health Organization
• Pan American Health Organization
• Public Health Agency of Canada
• European Union

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H5N1 (Bird Flu)

H5N1: United States Monitoring

• Avian Influenza (USGS National Wildlife Health Center)
  Get updates on bird flu outbreaks, news, and resources.
• HPAI Early Detection Data System (HEDDS) (USGS National Wildlife Health Center)
  Database contains data collected from live wild birds, hunter-killed birds, sentinel species, morbidity and mortality events, and environmental sampling. It can generate reports, graphs and maps, and spatial modeling can be used.
• Avian Influenza: Information and On-going Research (USGS Alaska Science Center)
  Describes current research and the potential movement of H5N1 to Alaska.
• Avian Influenza Testing and Diagnostics Fact Sheet (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
  This fact sheet provides definitions and a description of the tests used to diagnose avian influenza in U.S. bird populations.
• Interagency Screening Plan Document (Attachments)
  Interagency Screening Plan: An Early Detection System for Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza in Wild Migratory Birds. The interagency strategic plan, developed by wildlife disease biologists, veterinarians and epidemiologists, provides a unified national system for conducting H5N1 HPAI monitoring of wild migratory birds throughout the United States. The plan serves as a guide to all federal, state, university and non-governmental organizations involved in avian influenza monitoring by providing standard procedures and strategies for data sampling, diagnostics, and management.

Related Documents

• Fact Sheet August 9, 2006 [En Español]
• Plan Fact Sheet March 2006
• Related Information Fact Sheet   

H5N1: Global Monitoring

• International map of nations with confirmed cases of H5N1 (avian flu) (http://pandemicflu.gov/outbreaks/maps.html/#GlobalH5N1)
• Confirmed Human Cases of Avian Influenza A (H5N1) (World Health Organization)
  Statistics are given by country and by year, for both number of cases and number of deaths.
• Situation Updates - Avian Influenza (World Health Organization)
  Read about avian influenza situation updates as they occur, listed by country and by date.
• Outbreaks of Avian Influenza (Subtype H5N1) in Poultry (PDF - 51 KB) (World Organisation for Animal Health)
  View a graph of avian influenza outbreaks in poultry by country from the end of 2003 to the present.
• H5N1 Timeline (PDF - 216 KB) (WHO)
  Review a chronology of avian influenza outbreaks in animals and humans from 1996 to the present.
• Virus Sample Sharing
  Commitment by all countries to share virus samples and data freely and at the earliest possible opportunity is essential.
  
  

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