Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T18:03:04.339Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Classifying Infectious Disease Outbreaks to Improve Timeliness and Efficiency of Response

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2014

Joseph M. Posid ,
Richard A. Goodman  and
Ali S. Khan
Joseph M. Posid*
Affiliation:
Division of Preparedness and Emerging Infections, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Atlanta, Georgia
Richard A. Goodman
Affiliation:
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Atlanta, Georgia Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Washington, DC
Ali S. Khan
Affiliation:
Office of Public Health Preparedness and Emergency Response, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Joseph M. Posid, MPH, DPEI/NCEZID/CDC, Mailstop C-18, 1600 Clifton Rd, Atlanta GA 30333 (e-mail [email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Following the intentional dissemination of B.anthracis through the U.S. Postal Service in 2001, use of the term “naturally occurring” to classify some infectious disease outbreaks has become more evident. However, this term is neither a scientific nor an epidemiologic classification that is helpful in describing either the source or the mode of transmission in outbreaks. In this paper, the authors provide examples of how and when the public health community has recognized potentially flawed or misleading taxonomy in the past and taken steps to improve the taxonomy's accuracy and usefulness. We also offer examples of alternative terms for classifying outbreaks since inaccurate descriptions of outbreaks could potentially lead to a flawed or incomplete set of underlying assumptions about the outbreak's causal factors. This, in turn, could lead to implementing a flawed or incomplete intervention or response strategy which could extend the duration of the outbreak, resulting in avoidable morbidity and mortality. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1–6)

Keywords

infectious disease medicinepublic healthepidemiologic methodsemergency preparedness
Type
Concepts in Disaster Medicine
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 89 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Henderson, DA. Bioterrorism as a public health threat. Emerg Infect Dis. 1998;4(3):488-492.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2. McDade, JE, Franz, D. Bioterrorism as a public health threat: critical issues for the future. Emerg Infect Dis. 1998;4(3):493-494.Google Scholar
3. Tucker, JB. Historical trends related to bioterrorism: an empirical analysis. Emerg Infect Dis. 1999;5(4):498-504.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4. Dembek, ZF, Kortepeter, MG, Pavlin, JE. Discernment between deliberate and natural infectious disease outbreaks. Epidemiol Infect. 2007;135:353-371.Google Scholar
5. Grunow, R, Finke, EJ. A procedure for differentiating between the intentional release of biological warfare agents and natural outbreaks of disease: its use in analyzing the tularemia outbreak in Kosovo in 1999 and 2000. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2002;8(8):510-521.Google Scholar
6. Karwa, M, Currie, B, Kvetan, V. Bioterrorism: preparing for the impossible or the improbable. Crit Care Med. 2005;33(suppl 1):S75-S95.Google Scholar
7. Hamburg, MA. Bioterrorism: responding to an emerging threat. Trends Biotechnol. 2002;20(7):297-298.Google Scholar
8. Formenty, P, Roth, C, Gonzalez-Martin, F, etal. Emergent pathogens, international surveillance and international health regulations [in French]. Med Mal Infect J. 2006;36:9-15.Google Scholar
9. Binder, P, Brucker, G, Josseran, L. From alert to laboratory: a coherent network designed to deal with naturally occurring infectious disease outbreaks and bioterrorism [in French]. Bull Acad Nat Med. 2007;191(6):1005-1018.Google Scholar
10. Kman, NE, Nelson, RN. Infectious agents of bioterrorism: a review for emergency physicians. Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2008;26:517-547.Google Scholar
11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Imported plague – New York City, 2002. MMWR Morb Mortal Weekly Rep. 2003;52(31):725-728.Google Scholar
12. Rooney, RM, Cramer, EH, Mantha, S, etal. A review of outbreaks of foodborne disease associated with passenger ships: evidence for risk management. Public Health Rep. 2004;119(4):427-434.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
13. Greig, JD. Analysis of foodborne outbreak data reported internationally for source attribution. Intl J Food Micro. 2009;130(2):77-87.Google Scholar
14. Keene, WE. Lessons from investigations of foodborne disease outbreaks. JAMA. 1999;281(19):1845-1847.Google Scholar
15. Walker-Bone, K, Cooper, C. Hard work never hurt anyone: or did it? A review of occupational associations with soft tissue musculoskeletal disorders of the neck and upper limb. Ann Rheum Dis. 2005;64:1391-1396.Google Scholar
16. Hole, AM, Draper, A, Jolliffe, G, Cullinan, P, Jones, M, Newman Taylor, AJ. Occupational asthma caused by bacillary amylase used in the detergent industry. Occup Environ Med. 2000;57:840-842.Google Scholar
17. Bukowski, JA. Review of respiratory morbidity from occupational exposure to oil mists. Appl Occup Environ Hyg. 2003;18(11):828-837.Google Scholar
18. Page, K, Wilson, M, Parkin, IP. Antimicrobial surfaces and their potential in reducing the role of the inanimate environment in the incidence of hospital-acquired infections. J Mater Chem. 2009;19:3819-3831.Google Scholar
19. Sabria, M, Yu, VL. Hospital-acquired legionellosis: solutions for a preventable infection. Lancet. 2002;2(6):368-373.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
20. Lamas, CC, Eykyn, SJ. Hospital acquired native valve endocarditis: analysis of 22 cases presenting over 11 years. Heart. 1998;79:442-447.Google Scholar
21. Accident. Merriam-Webster website. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accident. Accessed November 2, 2012.Google Scholar
22. Langley, JD. The need to discontinue the use of the term “accident” when referring to unintentional injury events. Accid Anal Prev. 1998;20(1):1-8.Google Scholar
23. Doege, TC. Sounding board: an injury is no accident. N Engl J Med. 1978;298(9):509-510.Google Scholar
24. Kwei, R. Malaria eradication – mission impossible? Eyes on Malaria website. http://www.eyesonmalaria.org/content/malaria-eradication-mission-impossible. Accessed November 2, 2012.Google Scholar
25. Dowdle, WJ. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The principles of disease elimination and eradication. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1999;48(suppl 1):23-27.Google Scholar
26. The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press; 1933.Google Scholar
27. Greenfield, RA, Bronze, MS. Prevention and treatment of bacterial diseases caused by bacterial bioterrorism threat agents. Drug Discov Today. 2003;8(10):881-888.Google Scholar
28. Levings, MK, Allan, S, d'Hennezel, E, Piccirillo, CA. Functional dynamics of naturally occurring regulatory T cells in health and autoimmunity. Adv Immunol. 2006;92:119-155.Google Scholar
29. Nasu, H, Chia, DS, Knutson, DW, Barnett, EV. Naturally occurring human antibodies to the F(ab’)2 portion of IgG. Clin Exp Immunol. 1980;42:378-386.Google Scholar
30. Gonzalez, JP, Herbreteau, V, Morvan, J, Leroy, EM. Ebola virus circulation in Africa: a balance between clinical expression and epidemiological silence. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol. 2007;315:363-387.Google Scholar
31. Becker, CA, Bouju-Albert, A, Jouglin, M, Chauvin, A, Malandrin, L. Natural transmission of Zoonotic Babesia spp. by Ixodes ricinus ticks. Emerg Infect Dis. 2009;15(2):320-322.Google Scholar
32. Gage, KL, Kosoy, MY. Natural history of plague: perspectives from more than a century of research. Annu Rev Entomol. 2005;50:505-528.Google Scholar
33. Gregg, MB. Conducting a field investigation. In: Gregg MB, ed. Field Epidemiology, 3rd ed. New York, New York: Oxford University Press; 2008:81-96.Google Scholar
34. Morse, SA, Kellogg, RB, Perry, S, etal. Detecting biothreat agents: the Laboratory Response Network. ASM News. 2003;69(9):433-437.Google Scholar
35. Goodman, RA, Munson, JW, Dammers, K, Lazzarini, Z, Barkley, JP. Forensic epidemiology: law at the intersection of public health and criminal investigations. J Law Med Ethics. 2003;31:684-700.Google Scholar
36. Torok, TJ, Tauxe, RV, Wise, RP, etal. A large community outbreak of Salmonellosis caused by intentional contamination of restaurant salad bars. JAMA. 1997;278(5):389-395.Google Scholar
37. Kolavic, SA, Kimura, A, Simons, SL, Slutsker, L, Barth, S, Haley, CE. An outbreak of Shigella dysenteriae type 2 among laboratory workers due to intentional food contamination. JAMA. 1997;278(5):396-398.Google Scholar
38. Hennessy, TW, Hedberg, CW, Slutsker, L, etal. A national outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis infections from ice cream. N Engl J Med. 1996;334(2):1281-1286.Google Scholar
39. Heyman, DL, Rodier, GR; WHO Operational Support Team to the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network. Hot spots in a wired world: WHO surveillance of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Lancet. 2001;1(5):345-353.Google Scholar
40. United States Army Combined Arms Center. Casualty considerations, tactics, techniques, and procedures. Center for Army Lessons Learned. Appendix B. In: Catastrophic Disaster Response Staff Officer's Handbook; May 2006. http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/call/docs/06-08/ap-b.asp. Accessed May 17, 2013.Google Scholar
41. Rotz, LD, Khan, AS, Lillibridge, SR, Ostroff, SM, Hughes, JM. Public health assessment of potential biological terrorism agents. Emerg Infec Dis. 2002;8(2):225-229.Google Scholar
42. Baker, SP, O'Neill, B, Haddon, W, Long, WB. The injury severity score: a method for describing patients with multiple injuries and evaluating emergency care. J Trauma. 1974;14(3):187-196.Google Scholar
43. Reed, C, Biggerstaff, M, Finelli, L, etal. Novel framework for assessing epidemiologic effects of influenza epidemics and pandemics. Emerg Infect Dis. 2013;19(1):85-91.Google Scholar