New Tools for Improving Multi-State Foodborne Outbreak Investigations
Sunday, June 22, 2014: 9:00 AM-5:00 PM
104 (Nashville Convention Center)

CSTE, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is offering a workshop on using the Palantir System for Enteric Disease Response, Investigation, and Coordination (SEDRIC) to support management of multistate enteric disease outbreak investigations. Rapid, coordinated response to multistate outbreaks can prevent illnesses and save lives, but such responses require close collaboration, communication, and sharing of data among local, state, and federal partners. To facilitate collaboration and speed response activities, Palantir SEDRIC is being used to integrate epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback data in real time. The workshop will focus on using Palantir SEDRIC in a mock Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak, with participants using the system to visualize the outbreak in space and time, explore past human and non-human isolates associated with the outbreak strain, and manage and edit the outbreak line list in the SEDRIC line list editor. The outbreak scenario will also facilitate discussion of other topics, including investigation of illness sub-clusters (e.g. restaurant clusters) identified in the course of multistate investigations and new information technology tools to support outbreak investigations.  Participants should log into Palantir SEDRIC at least once before attending this session and bring a laptop to use during the outbreak scenario.

9:00 AM
Opening / Welcome

9:15 AM
Palantir Sedric Overview
Ensure all participants can log into Palantir SEDRIC.  Overview of the basic functions of Palantir SEDRIC, including investigation dashboards, line list editor, mapping functions, and exploration of historical data.


10:00 AM
Morning Break

10:30 AM
Outbreak Scenario Part I
Part I of the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak scenario will cover outbreak detection, hypothesis generation, and early hypothesis testing using the binomial test.  Brief overview on using the Epi Info™ Web Survey System to collect data in multistate outbreaks.


11:30 AM
Lunch on your own

1:00 PM
Outbreak Scenario Part II
Part II of the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak scenario will focus on methods for investigation of illness sub-clusters at restaurants and other venues.


2:00 PM
Outbreak Scenario Part III
Part III of the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak scenario will cover methods for conducting community-based case control studies, including a newly developed application that uses WhitePages.com data to identify geographically matched controls.


3:00 PM
Afternoon Break

3:30 PM
Outbreak Scenario Part IV
Part IV of the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak scenario will focus on product traceback and regulatory action.


4:30 PM
Closing remarks and evaluations

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