Aaron Kite-Powell

The Ratio of Emergency Department Visits for ILI to Seroprevalence of 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Virus Infection, Florida, 2009.

Background. A seroprevalence survey carried out in four counties in the Tampa Bay area of Florida provided an estimate of cumulative incidence of infection due to the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) as of the end of that year’s pandemic in the four counties from which seroprevalence data were obtained Methods. Excess emergency department (ED) visits for influenza-like illness (ILI) during the pandemic period (compared to four non-pandemic years) were estimated using the ESSENCE-FL syndromic surveillance system for the four-county area. Results. There were an estimated 44 infections for every ILI ED visit. Age-specific ratios rose from 19.7 to 1 for children aged <5 years to 143.8 to 1 for persons aged >64 years. Conclusions. These ratios provide a way to estimate cumulative incidence. These estimated ratios can be used in real time for planning and forecasting, when carrying out timely seroprevalence surveys is not practical. Syndromic surveillance data allow age and geographic breakdowns, including for children.

CDCPlot: an Application for Viewing Weekly CDC MMWR Disease Count Data

We present a user-friendly online application for viewing CDC disease count data. The application creates plots for user selected diseases, time ranges and geographic scales. An optional alert threshold informs the user when a disease count has risen very rapidly in a short period of time. The application is updated weekly as the CDC makes new data available.

Use of Electronic Health Records to Determine the Impact of Ebola Screening

Screening potential Ebola patients can have a significant impact on health systems. The Department of Defense has screened many potential patients which may not come to the attention of the infectious disease community. In order to find additional patients that require resources for evaluation, we have developed methods to use reason for visit text fields and laboratory test records. We have determined that various elements of the EHR, either through an existing syndromic surveillance system or through a specifically-derived method, can provide useful information on the impact of outbreaks on a health system. Use of these methods to find patients of concern could be expanded to other outbreaks.