Public Health Tool to Maximize Science and Technology with Local Health Department's Capabilities during a Response to Emerging Infectious Diseases Associated with Travel

BACKGROUND: In 2014, the Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HDHHS), in collaboration with government and non-government agencies, performed public health monitoring and surveillance for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus and Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak . The epidemiological and laboratory capabilities that are unique to the HDHHS presents an opportunity to maximize scientific and technological resources in the geographic area that result in early detection of aberrations, automated risk anticipation, coordinated threat identification and characterization, and rapid information integration, analysis, and sharing. The authors  describe how to apply  the National Biosurveillance Science and Technology Roadmap to current health threats, resulting from emerging infectious disease that are travel associated which have affected the U.S.A  in 2014, from the perspective of the local health department.

METHODS:  Based on the lessons learned from the 2014 public health activities, the authors propose a public health tool.  This tool can identify roles and expectations of the various entities that would be involved in application of the Roadmap during a response to a health threat caused by a travel associated emerging infectious disease with the potential to affect the public.  The matrix approach allows the authors to highlight the epidemiological and laboratory capabilities while focusing on one of the four Roadmap’s core functions: the identification of exposures and health threats in a rapid and accurate manner to allow for and the characterization in a timely and complete manner.

RESULTS:  The public health tool is a logic model to assist local health departments in planning and implementing a response to health threats to the public resulting from travel associated conditions of an infectious nature.

CONCLUSIONS: The public health tool facilitates: 1) local health department’s identification of strengths and limitations during the planning phase and 2) the flexibility to be used for various health threats. The application of the public health tool is based on the premise that scientific and technological resources are available for public health responses to identification and characterization of emerging infectious disease of a travel associated nature.