This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Early detection, awareness of EV-D68 increased outbreak preparedness
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Early detection and awareness of emerging infections, such as enterovirus D68, can help health care teams allocate resources in a timely manner so that infection can be properly managed and prevented, according to a recently published viewpoint in JAMA Pediatrics.
Jana Shaw, MD, MPH, of Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., and colleagues discussed the response their hospital had to the recent epidemic of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) and what health care workers can learn from the outbreak.
Jana Shaw
The initial clusters of EV-D68 were reported near the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year, increasing the possibility for rapid transmission.
The Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital began testing all patients with respiratory illness for EV-D68 on Sept. 8, the first week of school opening, before the detection of EV-D68 in New York. This approach strayed from the New York State Department of Health and the CDC’s recommendation of only testing patients with severe illness.
Three pediatric specimens from the Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital were confirmed positive for EV-D68.
Several lessons can be gleaned from the current epidemic of EV-D68, according to Shaw and colleagues. Early detection can help mobilize resources and inform health care workers and the public. Rapid diagnostics can determine transmission rates, as demonstrated in Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital. Communication between hospital epidemiologists and public health officials can prepare hospitals to evaluate resource needs in a timely manner.
One often overlooked role, according to the researchers, is how the media’s presentation of information can affect the public and the subsequent effect on hospitals.
“Health care professionals should take an active role to engage the media as a partner to spread correct and calming information to an anxious public,” the researchers wrote. “Rapid detection and media collaboration are crucial in limiting the effect of an outbreak in a community.”
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts