WHAT HAS CDC ACCOMPLISHED?

The Border Infectious Disease Surveillance program (BIDS) is the first binational, syndromic surveillance system for infectious diseases in the U.S.-Mexico border region. Before BIDS, there was a wide gap in border disease surveillance and no system to assess this unique zone. Surveillance case definitions used in the two countries were frequently incompatible, and laboratory confirmation was often unavailable in Mexico. BIDS has bridged this surveillance gap by forming partnerships among local, state, and federal institutions and public health authorities serving the region. Surveillance efforts are focusing initially on hepatitis (A,B,C,D,E) and febrile exanthems (measles, rubella, dengue, typhus, ehrlichiosis) in 13 clinical facilities in 9 cities in the U.S. and Mexico. CDC’s investment in BIDS serves as a seed for the development of a comprehensive border epidemiology and laboratory infrastructure. BIDS will provide data to guide the development of effective public health prevention and emergency preparedness strategies.
 

Example of program in action:
	Over 1000 cases have been identified and serum specimens tested. Binational data and information sharing protocols have been developed. BIDS was key to the binational dengue outbreak investigation in Texas/Tamaulipas and the measles investigation in California, Mexico/Baja, CA.

WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS?

The need for well trained minority epidemiologists, especially Hispanic/Latino, remains high. In an effort to meet these and future demands, the EIS Program will work to increase the number of minorities entering the program and those being assigned to state and local health departments in future years. This will be done in concert with increased marketing of the program to the Hispanic Serving Health Professions Schools.

	Enhance epidemiology and laboratory infrastructure in the border region.
	Establish binational system of surveillance for all communicable diseases.
	Develop a system to provide early warning of diseases outbreak and bioterrorism events and shared data for response, intervention, and other prevention activities.
	Design and evaluate improved infectious disease prevention programs along the border.

 

Produced by CDC's National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID) For more information, contact the National Center for Infectious Diseases, Mailstop C14, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30333: (404) 371-5236: http://www.cdc.gov/ncid/.

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