Capacity of public health surveillance to comply with revised international health regulations, USA

Abstract

Public health surveillance is essential for detecting and responding to infectious diseases and necessary for compliance with the revised International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005. To assess reporting capacities and compliance with IHR of all 50 states and Washington, DC, we sent a questionnaire to respective epidemiologists; 47 of 51 responded. Overall reporting capacity was high. Eighty-one percent of respondents reported being able to transmit notifications about unknown or unexpected events to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) daily. Additionally, 80% of respondents reported use of a risk assessment tool to determine whether CDC should be notified of possible public health emergencies. These findings suggest that most states have systems in place to ensure compliance with IHR. However, full state-level compliance will require additional efforts.

Figure 1

Proportion of state epidemiologists who use risk assessments to determine whether notification to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is necessary, showing types of algorithms used, United States, 2009. WHO, World Health Organization.

Figure 2

Number of states that notify the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of an unusual or unexpected case or outbreak of disease, by time frame, United States, 2009.

Figure 3

Number of state epidemiologists who have points-of-contact within the state for reporting different types of potential public health emergencies of international concern, United States, 2009.