New Jersey Experience and Protocol Development Teresa Hamby

New Jersey Experience and Protocol Development Teresa Hamby Infectious & Zoonotic Disease Program New Jersey Department of Health & Senior Services

Outline l Introduction l Overview of NJ Surveillance l Protocol Development l Conclusions 2

NJ Surveillance - Overview l NJ Public Health Partners o NJDHSS o Local Information Network Communications System (LINCS) NJ’s HAN l 22 jurisdictions statewide l Regional epidemiologists in each LINCS agency l o Local Health Departments l Total 114 o Hospitals l Approximately 80 acute care facilities 3

NJ Surveillance - Components l Emergency Department (ED) Surveillance o Daily analysis of ED visits and admissions o Enhanced during periods of heightened threat status l Hospital Divert Status o Housed in NJDHSS o Website review o Relate to ED volume 4

NJ Surveillance - Components l Communicable Disease Reporting and Surveillance System (CDRSS) o Weekly reporting l Over-The-Counter Drug Sales o Daily RODS website review o FTP download analysis l Bio. Sense o Daily review 5

Bio. Sense Experiences l “Initiation by Smallpox” o FIRST SIA follow up investigation by state or local PH o Approximately three weeks after SIAs implemented o Diagnosis related to vaccination reaction in military personnel 6

Experiences l Additional alerts o Miscodes Plague l Crimean hemorrhagic fever l o Vaccination-related l Yellow fever l Because of experiences = need for guidance in response at both state and local levels 7

Protocol Development l Need for… o Role-specific guidance NJDHSS surveillance staff l NJDHSS epidemiology staff l Regional epidemiologists / investigators l o Level of response? o Clear instructions for investigation and follow up 8

Protocol Development l Existing models to draw from… o Republican Convention, NYC 2004 o Presidential Election 2004 o Smallpox Vaccination Program 9

Protocol Elements l Description of Bio. Sense system and SIAs l Instructions by staff role o Assessment of true “threat”? o Investigation and follow up requirements l Closure of event 10

Update l Current status o Review and comment by Medical and Program Directors o LINCS epidemiologists developing similar protocol for local use l Next steps o Feedback from epidemiology staff at NJDHSS o Input from LINCS epidemiologists o Final approval by all partners 11

Conclusions l Bio. Sense is one component of NJ’s surveillance activities l Specific SIA experiences revealed need for protocol development at state and local levels l Protocol development is an ongoing activity o Additional experiences help in fine-tuning response expectations 12

Thank you! Contacts: Teresa Hamby Teresa. Hamby@doh. state. nj. us Stella Tsai Stella. Tsai@doh. state. nj. us Infectious & Zoonotic Disease Program (609) 588 -7500 13