The U.S.-Mexico Border Infectious Disease Surveillance project: establishing bi-national border surveillance. Article

Weinberg, Michelle, Waterman, Stephen, Lucas, Carlos Alvarez et al. (2003). The U.S.-Mexico Border Infectious Disease Surveillance project: establishing bi-national border surveillance. . EMERGING INFECTIOUS DISEASES, 9(1), 97-102. 10.3201/eid0901.020047

cited authors

  • Weinberg, Michelle; Waterman, Stephen; Lucas, Carlos Alvarez; Falcon, Veronica Carrion; Morales, Pablo Kuri; Lopez, Luis Anaya; Peter, Chris; GutiĆ©rrez, Alejandro Escobar; Gonzalez, Ernesto Ramirez; Flisser, Ana; Bryan, Ralph; Valle, Enrique Navarro; Rodriguez, Alfonso; Hernandez, Gerardo Alvarez; Rosales, Cecilia; Ortiz, Javier Arias; Landen, Michael; Vilchis, Hugo; Rawlings, Julie; Leal, Francisco Lopez; Ortega, Luis; Flagg, Elaine; Conyer, Roberto Tapia; Cetron, Martin

abstract

  • In 1997, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Mexican Secretariat of Health, and border health officials began the development of the Border Infectious Disease Surveillance (BIDS) project, a surveillance system for infectious diseases along the U.S.-Mexico border. During a 3-year period, a binational team implemented an active, sentinel surveillance system for hepatitis and febrile exanthems at 13 clinical sites. The network developed surveillance protocols, trained nine surveillance coordinators, established serologic testing at four Mexican border laboratories, and created agreements for data sharing and notification of selected diseases and outbreaks. BIDS facilitated investigations of dengue fever in Texas-Tamaulipas and measles in California-Baja California. BIDS demonstrates that a binational effort with local, state, and federal participation can create a regional surveillance system that crosses an international border. Reducing administrative, infrastructure, and political barriers to cross-border public health collaboration will enhance the effectiveness of disease prevention projects such as BIDS.

publication date

  • January 1, 2003

published in

keywords

  • Communicable Disease Control
  • Exanthema
  • Fever
  • Hepatitis, Viral, Human
  • Humans
  • International Cooperation
  • Mexico
  • Program Development
  • Sentinel Surveillance
  • United States

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

Medium

  • Print

start page

  • 97

end page

  • 102

volume

  • 9

issue

  • 1