CCIC Provider Education: A Potpourri of Complex Public Health Investigations: Measles, Mumps and Hepatitis A

Vaccine-preventable diseases can be averted through successful widespread vaccination programs. However, cases and outbreaks still occur and public health agencies are responsible for conducting an investigation and implementing control measures. Tri-County Health Department (TCHD), in partnership with other local and state agencies, has managed complex contact investigations for measles, mumps, and hepatitis A to limit disease spread. Public health investigations are resource intensive and reinforce the benefit of disease prevention through vaccination. At this event, members of TCHD discussed the intricacies of how these investigations were conducted.

This presentation:

• Outlined the use of public health emergency response systems to conduct complex communicable disease contact investigations.
• Demonstrated the importance of culturally appropriate communication in outbreak prevention and response.
• Described the epidemiology of the current hepatitis A outbreak in Colorado.

Presenters:
Bernadette Albanese, MD, MPH is a pediatric infectious disease physician and medical epidemiologist with Tri-County Health Department.

Jennifer Chase, MS is the disease intervention program manager at Tri-County Health Department.

Grace Marx, MD, MPH is an adult infectious disease physician and an epidemic intelligence service officer for the Centers for Disease Control as well as a lieutenant commander in the United States Public Health Service, based at Tri-County Health Department.