Special Features

2008

CDC Responds in 2008

A week prior to Hurricane Ike making landfall, CDC’s Director’s Emergency Operations Center (DEOC) was busy preparing to send life supporting medications, communication devices, personal protective equipment, and staff to Galveston, Texas, to aid the state in responding to this natural disaster.

CDC was proud to open the doors of the DEOC in 2003; it’s staffed 24 hours, every day of the year. The facility organizes scientific and operational experts in one location during emergency response; efficiently maintains situational awareness and exchanges of public health information with international, national, state, and local partners; and helps to ensure that CDC is integrated into the National Incident Management System. This system is the federal government’s systematic plan that guides departments and agencies at all levels of government, nongovernmental agencies, and the private sector to work seamlessly in order to reduce the loss of life, loss of property, and harm to the environment during a catastrophic event. In Fiscal Year 2008, the DEOC was activated for 359 days in response to 55 domestic and 16 international events, including the multistate Salmonella Saintpaul and E.coli 0157 outbreaks, the Midwest floods, and the outbreaks of cholera and hemorrhagic fever in Africa.

A significant part of preparing the CDC workforce for a public health emergency response is planning, training, conducting exercises, and evaluating CDC’s ability to respond. In Fiscal Year 2008, CDC coordinated plans, training, and evaluation for five real world events: hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike, and the Salmonella Alamosa and Salmonella Saintpaul outbreaks. Seven CDC training exercises were conducted—including exercises for anthrax, hurricanes, and pandemic influenza—to help us improve our overall response performance. In addition, 13 agency wide exercise and response-related training events were conducted and two scenario-specific response plans were completed that evaluated and clarified the roles and responsibilities of CDC centers and offices during an incident.

CDC continually updates rosters of CDC staff in the field, checks on staff members’ safety during and after an event, and conducts communication checks for deployed staff. CDC’s DEOC Logistics’ Team alone supported 871 staff with 1,500 equipment items and provided travel services for 109 staff in the field in Fiscal Year 2008. In addition, the DEOC has around-the-clock capability to coordinate the transport of life-supporting medications, samples, specimens, and personnel anywhere in the world via contracted aircraft when commercial carriers are unable to meet response needs.

2007

CDC Detection Networks Stop Salmonella Outbreaks in Their Tracks

A third large outbreak—Salmonella Tennessee—was linked to a peanut butter plant in Georgia. A total of 425 persons were infected in 44 states, with 20% requiring hospitalization.

With more than 40,000 cases of Salmonellosis reported in the United States each year, CDC searches for ways to improve its ability to detect, report, and contain foodborne outbreaks. Last year brought many successes in these areas, including a new molecular typing system that provides a faster, easier, and more reliable method of identifying Salmonella species.

Two powerful information tools—PulseNet and OutbreakNet—worked hand-in-hand to stop several serious outbreaks of food poisoning in FY07. OutbreakNet is a network of public health epidemiologists at the local, state and federal levels who investigate foodborne and diarrheal disease outbreaks. PulseNet is the revolutionary national surveillance system coordinated by CDC that allows public health laboratories to exchange information on foodborne bacteria “DNA fingerprint” patterns.

Like detectives searching for invisible clues, the networks used DNA sampling to identify several diarrheal illnesses caused by a rare strain of Salmonella in several states and strongly linked to a puffed rice and corn snack food with a vegetable coating. CDC reported that these illnesses were caused by Salmonella Wandsworth, a strain that had never before caused an outbreak of illness in the United States. After being informed about the outbreak investigation, the company that markets the product issued a voluntary recall.

A similar multistate outbreak—this time a Salmonella serotype called Schwarzengrund—was linked to dry pet food at a single manufacturing facility in Pennsylvania. As of September 2007, 62 persons in 18 states became ill after contact with the pet food, and one quarter of them required hospitalization. The company recalled the pet food, and CDC investigators are still studying why human illness, especially among infants, is associated with dry pet food.

A third large outbreak—Salmonella Tennessee—was linked to a peanut butter plant in Georgia. A total of 425 persons were infected in 44 states, with 20% requiring hospitalization.

Critical to the success in controlling Salmonella outbreaks is fast, reliable detection. CDC scientists made a breakthrough in FY07 by developing and validating a new molecular typing system. The new system is not only faster and more reliable than classical serotyping for Salmonella species, it also is easier to use. The system is poised to replace existing technology in state public health laboratories in the near future.