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Advances in global surveillance helped during 2009 pH1N1
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Significant improvements in global surveillance and notification systems made after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks led to earlier identification and characterization of the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, according to a new report.
“The systems worked remarkably well,” study researcher Michael A. Stoto, PhD, a professor in the department of health systems administration at Georgetown University, said in a press release. “Had the pandemic occurred as recently as 10 years ago, the delay in responding could have been much greater.”
Michael A. Stoto
Stoto and colleagues performed a systematic review of scientific literature, official documents, websites and news reports to construct a timeline of the events surrounding the 2009 pandemic, including the spread of the disease, health officials’ awareness of outbreaks, and notifications of events and their implications. A “critical event” analysis was conducted to determine when health officials became aware of the epidemiological facts of the outbreak and whether advances in surveillance in the past decade were useful in speeding up detection of the virus.
The researchers found that an experimental surveillance program conducted at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego helped health officials identify pH1N1 in two children living in Southern California. As a result, the CDC was able to identify a novel viral subtype and quickly issue an alert. The National Surveillance System in Mexico, as well as communication between health officials, allowed that country to recognize that multiple outbreaks were connected to the two California cases. Finally, the identification of pH1N1 in approximately 100 students at a Queens, N.Y., high school was hastened by public awareness of the pandemic. The 100 cases were linked to 14 students who had visited Mexico for spring break.
The researchers estimated that it might have been possible to have detected the virus 1 week earlier, although earlier detection would have made little difference, they said.
“Enhanced laboratory capacity as well as electronic communications and surveillance technology were essential in recognizing the 2009 H1N1 outbreak,” Stoto told Infectious Disease News. “But this would not have been possible without the epidemiologic intelligence of health officials in Mexico and the United States who ‘connected the dots’ the technology provided.”
Disclosure: Stoto reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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