Spotlight: Tracking the Virus
The CDC defines public health surveillance as "the ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health-related data essential to planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice." This path through the Influenza virtual exhibit explores how Influenza outbreaks have plagued populations for hundreds of years and how the global communities’ response to track and understand the disease has developed through each pandemic.
The name, influenza, is from 15th century Italian scholars who attributed this contagious upper respiratory disease to the influence of the stars. Before knowing the methods of microbiology, community leaders recognized patterns in when the illness occurred. Innovations in the 1930s and 1940s enhanced the tracking of influenza as outbreaks occurred around the world. Public health officials in partnership with the scientific community have applied lessons learned throughout the 20th and 21st century to specifically track influenza viruses associated with outbreaks. These advances culminate in public health surveillance, which today has a significant role in CDC’s ability to track seasonal influenza outbreaks and emerging pandemics.
Spotlights:
- Early Pandemic Monitoring and Trends
- Developing a System
- CDC Influenza Surveillance
- Influenza Surveillance Data
- Using Surveillance Data for Global Healthy
- Surveillance in the Field
- Regional and Seasonal Influenza Epidemics
- Next Generation Tracking of Virus Genomes
- New Surveillance Tools
- Preparing for Future Flu
Click here for further CDC information on Public Health Surveillance.