Emerging Infectious Diseases: Consensus on Needed Laboratory Capacity Could211 Strengthen Surveillance

摘要

Monitoring infectious diseases-identifying diseases and their sources-is critical211u001efor determining control and prevention efforts. Public health officials refer to 211u001ethis activity as surveillance-the ongoing collection, analysis, and 211u001einterpretation of disease-related data to plan, implement, and evaluate public 211u001ehealth actions. Many public health experts have raised concerns about the 211u001eadequacy of the nation's infectious diseases surveillance network, especially for 211u001ethose diseases considered to be emerging-that is, ones more prevalent now than 20 211u001eyears ago or ones that show signs of becoming more prevalent in the near future. 211u001eIn light of these concerns, you asked us to examine the nation's surveillance 211u001enetwork and to focus on the contribution of laboratories, since new technology 211u001egives them an increasingly important role in identifying pathogens and the 211u001esources of outbreaks.