Message from BioSense Redesign Team

Dear BioSense Redesign Stakeholder:

A new post for the Public Health Situation Awareness topic has launched! Please take a moment to visit the BioSense Redesign site and answer the new questions* that explore elements of data exchange (i.e., current and preferred data formats and transport methods) with BioSense 2.0. The CDC will use your feedback to better understand how to tailor the new BioSense application. Your feedback is valuable to the redesign of the BioSense system and program.
Please visit the BioSense Redesign Collaboration Web Site to access questions at the Requirements Gathering Work Center or link directly to the questions at the Public Health Situation Awareness Feedback Forum 11: Data Exchange with BioSense 2.0 (posted 08/23/2011).

If you’d like to contribute to a previous post, please click here to access archived questions.

Thank you,

The BioSense Redesign Team

*New questions are posted for comment on a weekly to biweekly basis. Check back often for updates and summaries of feedback posted by stakeholders.

ISDS 10th Annual Conference Announcement

Building the Future of Public Health Surveillance
Sheraton Atlanta Hotel
Atlanta, GA

December 6 - 8, 2011

Dear Colleagues,

Over the last few weeks, we have heard from many ISDS 10th Annual Conference abstract submitters, and potential submitters, that the August abstract deadline has proven difficult for many to meet, due to the timing of seasonal vacations and other aspects of the summer schedule. In the interest of presenting the best conference possible and fully representing the work of the society membership, we have made the decision to significantly extend our abstract submission deadline.

For those of you who were able to complete and submit your abstract by the previously published deadlines, but felt rushed in doing so, please know that you will be able to modify and resubmit your abstracts through the ISDS abstract system (you can click on "return to draft" to edit your previously submitted abstract). For those of you contemplating a submission, we hope the deadline extension will provide sufficient opportunity for you to complete your submissions; unfortunately, no further extensions will be possible.

The new (and final) deadline for abstract submission is Sunday, September 11, 2011, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. The ISDS Abstract Submission site will reopen in the next few days.

Revised Key Dates:
Abstract submission deadline: September 11, 2011
Author notification of abstract acceptance: October 10, 2011
Early registration for the conference ends: October 24, 2011

Thank you very much, and we look forward to seeing you in Atlanta!

Best regards,

Karl Soetebier and Daniel Neill
Scientific Program Chairs
ISDS Annual Conference, 2011

Please click here for more information regarding abstract submission.

To stay up-to-date with all of the latest conference information, visit our Conference website.

ISDS at the 2011 Public Health Informatics Conference

There will be a number of activities in which ISDS is participating at the 2011 Public Health Informatics Conference in Atlanta, GA from August 21-24th, 2011. 

The following abstracts are regarding the ISDS Meaningful Use Recommendation:

Syndromic Surveillance Data Exchange and Public Health Standards and Interoperability Processes
This abstract will be presented as a poster and will be available for viewing throughout the conference in the Grand Hall.

A Demonstration of Meaningfully Using the ISDS Recommended Data Elements 
Monday, August 22, 2011; 10:30 AM

Meaningfully Advancing Public Health Syndromic Surveillance Together
Wednesday, August 24, 2011; 10:00-11:30 AM

ISDS Presentations at 2011 Public Health Informatics Conference

If you are attending the 2011 Public Health Informatics Conference in Atlanta, GA, check out the following ISDS talks:

1. Syndromic Surveillance Data Exchange and Public Health Standards and Interoperability Processess

Monday, August 22, 2011
Grand Hall

Nikolay Lipskiy, MD, DrPH, Health Scientist, CDC
Taha Kass-Hout, MD, MS
Charlie Ishikawa, MSPH, ISDS
Daryl Chertcoff, MSE
Maiko Minami, BA

2. Free-Text Chief Complaint: Why Syndromic Surveillance Needs Unstructured Data

Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Regency V

Charlie Ishikawa, MSPH, Associate Director of Public Health Programs, ISDS
David Buckeridge, MD, PhD
Wendy Chapman, PhD
Michele Day, PhD
Laura Streichert, PhD, MPH, ISDS

3. Improving Public Health Surveillance Through Improved System Monitoring: An In-Depth Analysis

Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Hanover A/B

Ian Painter, PhD, Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Washington
Julie Eaton, PhD
Matt Johnson, BN
Don Olson, PhD
Anne Gifford, MPH
Debra Revere, MS
William Lober, MD

4. Meaningfully Advancing Public Health Syndromic Surveillance Together

Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Regency VI

Julia Gunn, RN, MPH
David Buckeridge, MD, PhD
Robert Beckley, BS

2011 PHI Conference

ISDS Scientific Programming Committee Proudly Announces the 10th Annual Conference Keynote Speaker

Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM

Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM serves as National Coordinator for Health Information Technology within the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Farzad joined ONC in July 2009.

Previously, he served at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene as Assistant Commissioner for the Primary Care Information Project, where he facilitated the adoption of prevention-oriented health information technology by over 1,500 providers in underserved communities. Dr. Mostashari also led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded NYC Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics and an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality funded project focused on quality measurement at the point of care. Prior to this he established the Bureau of Epidemiology Services at the NYC Department of Health, charged with providing epidemiologic and statistical expertise and data for decision making to the health department.

He did his graduate training at the Harvard School of Public Health and Yale Medical School, internal medicine residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, and completed the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. He was one of the lead investigators in the outbreaks of West Nile Virus and anthrax in New York City, and among the first developers of real-time electronic disease surveillance systems nationwide.

Bio and picture from the ONC website.

Remember that abstracts are due THIS Friday, August 19th. Please visit the ISDS Conference Homepage for all the latest Conference information!

Looking for a New Resource for Infectious Disease Research and Policy Information?

The staff at ISDS recommend that you check out The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota! Click here to visit their website for further information about the center and to sign up for daily updates on various infectious disease research and policy topics, including influenza!

CIDRAP recently released the following influenza resource update that many ISDS followers may find interesting:

SEASONAL/GENERAL FLU & VACCINES
Comparability of different methods for estimating influenza infection rates over a single epidemic wave
From Aug 15 Am J Epidemiol.

Broadly neutralizing human antibody that recognizes the receptor-binding pocket of influenza virus hemagglutinin
From Proc Natl Acad Sci, published online Aug 8

Detecting transmission and reassortment events for influenza A viruses with genotype profile method
From Aug 9 Virol J.

Efficacy of dual vaccination of pandemic H1N1 2009 influenza and seasonal influenza on institutionalized elderly: a one-year prospective cohort study
From Vaccine, published online Aug 5

Serious adverse events following receipt of trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine in Korea, 2003-2010
From Vaccine, published online Aug 7

Seasonal influenza: the burden of disease in children
From Vaccine, published online Aug 4

Cost-effectiveness and socio-economic aspects of childhood influenza vaccination
From Vaccine, published online Aug 4

Effectiveness and safety of influenza vaccination in children: European perspective
From Vaccine, published online Aug 4

Vaccination during pregnancy to protect infants against influenza: why and why not?
From Vaccine, published online Aug 4

Vaccination strategies to protect children against seasonal and pandemic influenza
From Vaccine, published online Aug 4

Different influenza vaccine formulations and adjuvants for childhood influenza vaccination
From Vaccine, published online Aug 4

Mitigating effects of vaccination on influenza outbreaks given constraints in stockpile size and daily administration capacity
From Aug 1 BMC Infect Dis

One-step assay for detecting influenza virus using dynamic light scattering and gold nanoparticles
From Aug 1 Analyst

A neutralizing antibody selected from plasma cells that binds to group 1 and group 2 influenza A hemagglutinins
From Science, published online Jul 28

2009 H1N1 PANDEMIC FLU
Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus infection: persistent viral shedding after oseltamivir treatment
From J Infect, published online Aug 9

Hemagglutinin--neuraminidase balance confers respiratory-droplet transmissibility of the pandemic H1N1 influenza virus in ferrets
From Proc Natl Acad Sci, published online Aug 8

Prevention of influenza virus shedding and protection from lethal H1N1 challenge using a consensus 2009 H1N1 HA and NA adenovirus vector vaccine
From Vaccine, published online Aug 5

Effectiveness of H1N1/09 monovalent and trivalent influenza vaccines against hospitalization with laboratory-confirmed H1N1/09 influenza in Australia: a test-negative case control study
From Vaccine, published online Jul 31

College students' perceptions of H1N1 flu risk and attitudes toward vaccination
From Vaccine, published online Aug 7

Safety of pandemic H1N1 vaccines in children and adolescents
From Vaccine, published online Aug 5

Adverse events following pandemic A (H1N1) 2009 monovalent vaccines in pregnant women--Taiwan, November 2009-August 2010
From Aug 5 PLoS ONE

The age-specific cumulative incidence of infection with pandemic influenza H1N1 2009 was similar in various countries prior to vaccination
From Aug 5 PLoS ONE

Impact of pandemic A/H1N1/2009 influenza on children and their families: comparison with seasonal A/H1N1 and A/H3N2 influenza viruses
From J Infect, published online Aug 3

Factors associated with severe illness in pandemic 2009 influenza A (H1N1) infection: implications for triage in primary and secondary care
From J Infect, published online Aug 3

Safety and immunogenicity of a virus-like particle pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 vaccine in a blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled trial of adults in Mexico
From Vaccine, published online Aug 2

Early use of glucocorticoids as a risk factor for critical disease and death from pH1N1 infection
From Aug 15 Clin Infect Dis

Estimating time to onset of swine influenza symptoms after initial novel A(H1N1v) viral infection
From Sep 1 Epidemiol Infect

Seasonal influenza vaccination predicts pandemic H1N1 vaccination uptake among healthcare workers in three countries
From Vaccine, published online Jul 30

Pandemic influenza A H1N1 vaccine in recipients of solid organ transplants: immunogenicity and tolerability outcomes after vero cell derived, non-adjuvanted, whole-virion vaccination
From Vaccine, published online Jul 29

'Out of two bad choices, I took the slightly better one': vaccination dilemmas for Scottish and polish migrant women during the H1N1 influenza pandemic
From Public Health, published online Jul 29 Visit link...

Delayed oseltamivir treatment is associated with longer viral shedding of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 virus
From Epidemiol Infect, published online Jul 29

AVIAN FLU
Limiting worker exposure to highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1): a repeat survey at a rendering plant processing infected poultry carcasses in the UK
From Aug 5 BMC Public Health

H7 avian influenza virus vaccines protect chickens against challenge with antigenically diverse isolates
From Vaccine, published online Jul 29

ISDS Conference Update: Abstract Submission Deadline Extension

ISDS 10th Annual Conference 2011

Building the Future of Public Health Surveillance

Abstract Submission Deadline Extension

The ISDS 10th Annual Conference abstract submission deadline will be extended to Friday, August 19, 2011.

Don't wait for the last minute! Submit your abstracts today! For more abstract submission information, please visit: http://www.syndromic.org/abstract-submission/2011.

Please note that the scholarship application deadline is still Friday, August 19, 2011. For more scholarship information, please see: http://www.syndromic.org/annual-conference/2011/scholarships.

Conference registration is now OPEN!

ONC Requests Comments on Metadata Standards

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology released the following notice:

On August 5, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM), which solicits public comments on the metadata standards recommended to it by the HIT Standards Committee.

The metadata standards under consideration relate to:

• Patient Identity Metadata – These metadata relate to patient identity and include: a patient’s name; date of birth; address; zip code; and relevant patient identifier(s).

• Provenance Metadata – These metadata would be used to provide information on the “who, what, where, and when.” Provenance metadata would include: a tagged data element (TDE) identifier; a time stamp; the actor; and the actor’s affiliation.

• Privacy Metadata – Privacy metadata would include a policy pointer and content elements descriptions such as data type (e.g., consultation note) and sensitivity.

ONC will accept public comments on the ANPRM for 45 days following its publication in theFederal Register. The public comment period will close on September 23, 2011.

For more information, please visit ONC's website at http://healthit.hhs.gov.

Job Opportunity at ISDS: Program Assistant

ISDS is now accepting applications for a Program Assistant position in Boston, MA.  The Program Assistant will work under the supervision of the Executive Director and in collaboration with other project team members to assist with coordination of activities related to ISDS's programs.

View the full job posting >>>

Applications are due by August 20th, 2011.