Concerns about the potential for a large-scale bio-terrorist attack or an outbreak of an infectious disease have prompted a growing number of jurisdictions across the nation to launch electronic tracking systems to quickly detect outbreaks. By compiling data from emergency rooms, poison control centers and other sources, disease surveillance can serve as an early warning alarm.

The NCR network uses the Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-based Epidemics (ESSENCE), developed by the Lab with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. ESSENCE compiles data containing health indicators, performs analysis and provides information to local and regional public health officials on statistical anomalies that occur to help them identify bio-events early. Such irregularities would include upward trends in rashes, fevers and unexplained deaths, or a sudden surge in over-the-counter drug sales. It is the first system to integrate military and civilian data.

Each local and state public health jurisdiction in the NCR network responds independently to public health alerts and to ensure the health and safety of its residents. With an unprecedented collaborative network among public health programs, the NCR disease surveillance system offers a first line of defense in the national capital area.

Wednesday's exercise was designed to test the system, using a simulated terrorist attack to observe the response from public health authorities. (The scenario was based on a hypothetical situation and was not intended as a forecast of future events.)

"This is giving us an opportunity to see, in real time, how health data are provid
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Contact: Paulette Campbell
paulette.campbell@jhuapl.edu
240-228-6792
Johns Hopkins University
29-Apr-2005