Development of Epidemiologic Tools for Radiological Emergency Preparedness and Response through Partnerships

Background

Epidemiologists have a key role in preparing for and responding to radiological public health emergencies, including characterizing population health impact, using epidemiologic data to assist in prioritization of biological specimens for laboratory analysis, and identifying individuals needing medical treatment and long term monitoring. These topics have received increased attention following the Top Officials 2 and 4 radiological exercises.

Objective

This abstract describes the recent work of CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), Health Studies Branch (HSB) to address the need to develop epidemiologic tools to prepare for and respond to a radiological emergency in collaboration with public health partners.

Response

HSB will develop epidemiologic tools for collecting data following a radiological event with the assistance of the NCEH Radiation Studies Branch, Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, and state and local health departments. HSB is working with the American Association for Poison Control Center’s National Poison Data System to develop surveillance definitions to monitor human health impact of an event. In cooperation with CDC’s National Center for Public Health Informatics, HSB is identifying ways to enhance the Countermeasure Response Administration system to track radiological countermeasure administration. In order to prioritize biological specimens sent to CDC for testing, HSB is working with the NCEH Division of Laboratory Sciences to develop prioritization algorithms based on individuals’ exposure and other epidemiologic data.

Next Steps

HSB plans to collaborate with both internal and external partners to develop new tools and enhance existing systems for surveillance and epidemiologic data collection, analysis, and integration to assist states during a radiological public health emergency. Next steps include plans to test these tools during a radiation exercise and identify gaps.