Germ Wars by Armstrong Melanie;

Author:Armstrong, Melanie;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of California Press

SURVEILLANCE

Like the famous horseshoe seating of NASA’s mission control center, all workstations in CDC’s Emergency Operations Center are oriented toward a large bank of screens covering the long wall of the center room. On the day I visited, a screen on the far right showed the day’s scheduled events, while screens on the far left streamed CNN and Atlanta news. In the center, a half-dozen screens displayed health-related information from around the world. One U.S. map showed the number of flu outbreaks in the country to date; another map charted salmonella outbreaks in North America. A global outlook map tracked diseases of interest, as reported over the previous two weeks, and another showed a satellite weather image tracking the advance of Hurricane Paloma. One screen listed twenty-three individuals on the airline industry’s “do not board” list, primarily individuals with tuberculosis.

This electronic wall created an image of the nation’s health, an up-to-the-minute snapshot of the people and places being monitored by the health sector, situated between the day-to-day operations of CDC and the events presented by the news media. The effective collection and distribution of public-health surveillance data are at the core of CDC’s public health mission. The gathering and use of surveillance data also play a role producing a population that is vulnerable to bioterrorism and therefore in need of securing. As CDC’s surveillance capabilities have expanded with bioterrorism funding, its stores of national health information have increased.

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