Emerging Infections Sentinel Networks

In its 1994 monograph, Addressing Emerging Infectious Disease Threats – A Prevention Strategy for the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) called for the establishment of provider-based Emerging Infections Sentinel Networks (EISNs) to monitor and evaluate conditions that are not covered by health department surveillance and that are likely to be seen by specific kinds of health providers. Objectives for the provider-based sentinel networks include the following: - To support linked groups of participating individuals or organizations in monitoring a variety of infectious disease problems and enhancing communication and collaboration among network members and the public health community; - To serve as readily accessible mechanisms to address urgent public health infectious disease problems rapidly; and - To improve understanding of specific public health issues, including, but not limited to, international travel, and enhance preparedness to meet new infectious disease threats among domestic and globally mobile populations. Additional objectives for the "research" EISN include: - To focus studies on the most important issues to be addressed by participating hospital EDs and CDC; and - To estimate the community burden of diseases.