Abstract
80 million individuals from industrialized nations travel to the developing world each year. Provider-based surveillance of travelers is increasingly sophisticated. One such network, GeoSentinel monitors disease trends among travelers and can inform both pre-travel advice and post-travel management and defines the spectrum of illness and the relation to place of exposure for the most significant health risks that face travelers. Founded in 1996, the communications and data collection network currently comprises 50 travel/tropical medicine ISTM (International Society of Travel Medicine) clinics on 6 continents operating in cooperation with the US CDC. Returning travelers seen at relatively few sentinel sites provide a sample of disease agents in over 230 different countries. As of December 1, 2009, over 114,000 patient records increasing by 20,000/yr, track trends against a 12-year long baseline for over 500 diagnoses in order to monitor anomalies that might herald disease emergence. Real time data entry via internet onto a central server allows monitoring of alarming sentinel events to generate immediate network wide queries and enhanced surveillance during focal or widespread outbreak situations. The GeoSentinel response arm disseminates alerts and advisories through CDC, ProMedMail, ISTM, ASTMH, and other partner networks and agencies. Examples have included: imported traveler-related cases/outbreaks of SARS, 2009 H1N1 influenza, leptospirosis from Borneo, Hantavirus from Chile, Hajj meningitis from Singapore, firstever dengue from Easter Island, and schistosomiasis from Tanzania. The presentation will include advances, observations, lessons and limitations from the experience of the global GeoSentinel surveillance network. Data from sentinel travelers upon their return to medically sophisticated environments can also benefit local populations in resource-limited countries. Abstracts for SupplementInternational Journal of Infectious DiseasesVol. 14Preview Full-Text PDF Open Archive
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