et: Active population-based laboratory surveillance to monitor the incidence of foodborne diseases. Surveillance is conducted for seven bacterial and two parasitic pathogens: E. coli O157:H7, Campylobacter, Listeria, Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia, Vibrio, Cryptosporidium, and Cyclospora.
- Influenza activities: Active population-based surveillance for laboratory confirmed influenza-related hospitalizations. EIP sites also conduct influenza vaccine effectiveness evaluations among groups for which ACIP recommends annual vaccination.
- Healthcare Associated Infections-Community Interface (HAIC) projects: Active population-based surveillance for Clostridium difficile infection and other healthcare associated infections caused by pathogens such as MRSA, Candida, and multi-drug resistant gram-negative bacteria. Sites also utilize the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) to perform time-limited evaluations of HAIC data among NHSN facilities participating in the EIP NHSN network.
Surveillance efforts of these core EIP activities generate reliable estimates of the incidence of certain infections and provide the foundation for a variety of epidemiologic studies to explore risk factors, spectrum of disease, and prevention strategies.
The EIP network’s unique strength and contribution lies in its ability to quickly translate surveillance and research activities into informed policy and public health practice. For example, EIP work has been instrumental in the nation’s post-licensure evaluation of the 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, evaluating and honing strategies for preventing severe disease in newborns caused by Group B Streptococcus, developing methodology to estimate ranges of 2009 H1N1 influenza cases and related hospitalization and deaths, and defining the rapidly changing epidemiology and growing burden of MRSA. The network has generated more than 510 publications since 1995 with data obtained from core EIP activities, Active Bacterial Core surveillance (ABCs), FoodNet, Influenza projects, and Healthcare Associated Infections - Community Interface projects, as well as other special studies.