Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) Cooperative Agreement Program
Funding Initiated In 2001

FY05 Funding April 1, 2005 through March 31, 2006 - $446,472

Activities Proposed for FY 05

Food Safety; Hepatitis Prevention and Control; Influenza Surveillance and Response; West Nile Virus

Key Performance Indicators

Food Safety

• The DC Public Health Laboratory is implementing a new Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to automate specimen accessioning, tracking, and data reporting.
• All individual foodborne cases are reported weekly to the CDC via NETSS. In addition, all foodborne outbreaks are reported to the CDC through the Electronic Foodborne Outbreak Reporting System reporting system.
• The DDSI produces a bi-weekly diseased bulletin, which details total cases of foodborne diseases along with other reportable diseases in the District.

Hepatitis Prevention and Control

• Mosquito surveillance staff conducted survey, trapped and collected mosquitoes in District in a grid-like pattern throughout the District.
• Animal Disease Prevention staff forwarded information to all District veterinarians.

Influenza Surveillance and Response

• The influenza surveillance program currently has 16 sentinel providers. These providers represent various types of healthcare settings, such as hospitals, university/college health services and daycare centers.

West Nile Virus

• We plan to integrate Hepatitis program with other Department of health programs, such as Immunization, STD, HIV/AIDS and Substance Abuse, which target high risk individuals.

Contact Information and Links

Maurice E. Knuckles, PhD
Director, DC Public Health Laboratory
District of Columbia Department of Health
300 Indiana Av. NW
Washington, DC 20001

Department of Health, District of Colombia: http://dchealth.dc.gov/