EHS-Net: Understanding Outbreak Surveillance

The Environmental Health Services Branch (EHSB) in the National Centers for Environmental Health (NCEH) at the CDC is working to answer surveillance, epidemiologic, behavioral and environmental health research questions and identify emerging public health issues. Through the use of the environmental health triads, systems theory, and the collaboration of state and national partners, CDC water teams have identified that almost half of all drinking water deficiencies were not under the jurisdiction of the water utility companies, and that nearly all waterborne disease outbreaks associated with contamination of source water, treatment facility, or distribution system occurred in systems using ground water. Much of them in houses that are served with both a private well and an onsite wastewater system. Thus surveillance data has led to the evaluation of current technologies and practices, identification of research priorities, as well as to emphasize the importance of a holistic view of the environmental conditions unique to each water system. Based on these findings and past experiences, EHSB and the EHS-Net Program have become increasingly important due to its role as a collaborative forum of environmental health specialists whose goals are to identify environmental antecedents to illness and disease outbreaks, translate findings into improved prevention efforts using a systems approach, offer training opportunities, and to strengthen collaboration among epidemiology, laboratory, and environmental public health service programs. The purpose of this session will be to introduce the integrated systems theory and the work that EHSB is currently conducting on water and food, and their related systems.