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WHAT IS THE PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM?
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.
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.
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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Last Updated
on November 03, 2004
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