The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #68443

Steven M. Babin, MD, MSE, MS, PhD¹, Jacob Casper, DVM¹, Clara Witt, VMD, MPH², Sheryl L. Happel Lewis, MPH¹, Richard A. Wojcik, MS¹, Steven F. Magruder, PhD¹, Howard S. Burkom, PhD¹, Jacqueline Weitzel³, and Joseph Lombardo, MS¹. (1) National Security Technology Department, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723, (2) Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Department of Defense Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System, 503 Robert Grant Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910, (3) Technological Services Department, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, Laurel, MD 20723

Animals may be used as sentinels for zoonotic disease outbreaks in humans in a system employing syndromic surveillance, which seeks to supplement traditional public health surveillance by detecting anomalies in the syndromic background environment. While anomalies at such an early stage may not have a specific diagnosis, their spatial and temporal patterns could provide important clues as to the nature of the anomaly and potentially affected human populations. Some animal species are more susceptible and have a shorter incubation period to certain zoonotic diseases than do humans. Also, because seasonal patterns of zoonotic diseases in animals are not always the same patterns in humans, it may be easier to detect the occurrence of an anomaly while the animal syndromic background has low activity and the human syndromic background has high activity. This animal syndromic surveillance is only one component of a comprehensive syndromic surveillance system, so that any animal syndromic anomaly must be considered in the context of everything else being monitored. Because four out of the top five diseases considered to be the greatest bioterrorist threats are zoonotic diseases, it is hoped that such monitoring will enhance the timely detection of an intentional release of a biologic agent. Based on the results of a detailed review of veterinary and medical literature, animal sentinels for diseases considered to be bioterrorist threats and their specific syndromic categories for monitoring will be presented. Some preliminary results of this type of disease surveillance will be presented also.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the importance of zoonotic disease in public health
• Recognize the importance of using animal syndromic surveillance data in conjunction with human public health data
• Identify potential animal sentinels for the zoonotic diseases that may represent bioterrorist actions

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.