Department of Defense influenza and other respiratory disease surveillance during the 2009 pandemic

Abstract

The Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center’s Division of Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System (AFHSC-GEIS) supports and oversees surveillance for emerging infectious diseases, including respiratory diseases, of importance to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). AFHSC-GEIS accomplishes this mission by providing funding and oversight to a global network of partners for respiratory disease surveillance. This report details the system’s surveillance activities during 2009, with a focus on efforts in responding to the novel H1N1 Influenza A (A/H1N1) pandemic and contributions to global public health. Active surveillance networks established by AFHSC-GEIS partners resulted in the initial detection of novel A/H1N1 influenza in the U.S. and several other countries, and viruses isolated from these activities were used as seed strains for the 2009 pandemic influenza vaccine. Partners also provided diagnostic laboratory training and capacity building to host nations to assist with the novel A/H1N1 pandemic global response, adapted a Food and Drug Administration-approved assay for use on a ruggedized polymerase chain reaction platform for diagnosing novel A/H1N1 in remote settings, and provided estimates of seasonal vaccine effectiveness against novel A/H1N1 illness. Regular reporting of the system’s worldwide surveillance findings to the global public health community enabled leaders to make informed decisions on disease mitigation measures and controls for the 2009 A/H1N1 influenza pandemic. AFHSC-GEIS’s support of a global network contributes to DoD’s force health protection, while supporting global public health.

Respiratory Infections in the U.S. Military: Recent Experience and Control

“…Great progress has been attained through a flexible, centrally coordinated, worldwide network of partners who promote, maintain, coordinate, and enhance an informative and responsive system in support of emerging infectious disease surveillance worldwide (697). Continued intensive surveillance will provide data as a basis for military public health officials to make recommendations for reducing morbidity and mortality due to epidemic respiratory disease threats outlined in this and other relevant military reviews (698).…”

The emergence of a new corona virus—MERS-CoV: Hind sight is always 20/20

“…The identification of clustering of cases of unusual respiratory illness with no diagnosis is the first indication of a potential outbreak. Diagnostic laboratories, when properly equipped, may go through the routine list of pathogens with no diagnosis [7]. It may take several cases to become ill before a novel virus can be identified.…”

Application of PCR Technologies to Humans, Animals, Plants and Pathogens from Central Africa

“…Very recently however, samples from patients living with influenza-like illness in Yaounde, Cameroon were analyzed with various techniques including real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) thus allowing the detection and subtyping of influenza A (H1N1 and H3N2) and B viruses from these patients [127]. Because of the H1N1 influenza A pandemic, Cameroon entered in a global surveillance network and received a laboratory equipped with a robust PCR platform for diagnosing influenza viruses in remote settings [128].…”