partner profile
What excites you most about advanced
molecular diagnostic technologies
such as NGS, MALDI-TOF and CARB
(carbohydrate-based microarrays)?
With a severe influenza season
drawing to a close, have flu specialists
acquired any new insights into vaccine
development, diagnostics and/or
surveillance?
Influenza is an incredible challenge to
study and to prevent and treat. Seasonal
influenza accounts for a large burden of
disease every year, and novel influenza
viruses pose an ever-present threat for
an influenza pandemic. Systems in the
United States and around the world that
characterize and investigate influenza
viruses have improved dramatically
following large-scale investments that
were made in pandemic preparedness.
We have learned so much about influenza,
but we have many questions that need
answers for us to move forward in
reducing the burden of disease.
This flu season was notable for
widespread and high flu activity in
many regions of the United States
simultaneously and for record-breaking
hospitalization rates. This flu season is a
reminder of how serious flu can be and
why we need to improve our ability to
fight flu. We saw this season again that flu
vaccines don’t work as well as we would
like, especially against the H3N2 viruses
that predominated this season. CDC’s
vaccine effectiveness network allowed
us to measure how well the vaccine was
working overall this season, but we
would like to be able to increase
the breadth and depth of vaccine
effectiveness monitoring to support
development of more effective vaccines.
We would like to increase our
laboratory capacity to support vaccine
manufacturers and developers to make
better performing vaccines. We would
also like to be able to work with public
health laboratories and other public
health partners to improve influenza
virus characterization and disease
monitoring domestically and globally.
Enhancing our collective ability to rapidly
detect changes in circulating viruses
that could be associated with lower
vaccine effectiveness could go a long
way to informing development of better
performing flu vaccines.
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
I’m pleased to see that once funding
and infrastructure were made available
through the Advanced Molecular
Detection program, public health
laboratories were quickly able to apply the
technologies in many areas—improving
surveillance, detecting outbreaks earlier
and responding to public health threats
more effectively. It’s exciting to see how
this technology is being used in state
health labs across the United States.
As a veteran of many public health
responses, what is your perspective on
the status of US infrastructure for public
health surveillance?
There have been significant
improvements in the infrastructure for
public health surveillance in recent years,
but more are needed. Often during an
emergency response, we are forced to set
up a new surveillance system to collect
important data, rather than adapting
a currently functioning system. We
need to continue to invest in improving
day-to-day systems so we are ready for
the next emergency response. Another
critical investment is the infrastructure
supporting improved risk assessment
processes and biosafety programs.
This infrastructure helps to protect our
frontline laboratory workers and reassure
the public that we are able to safely
respond to new public health threats.
How can communities support the
needs of pregnant women during an
influenza pandemic?
Because pregnant women are at increased
risk of serious complications related to
pandemic and seasonal influenza, they
need to have access to prompt treatment
with antiviral medications and to the
pandemic flu vaccine, once it becomes
available. Pregnant women and children
have historically been prioritized in
pandemic planning to receive antiviral
medications and pandemic vaccine earlier
APHL.org
than the general population. In addition,
public health professionals need to work
with obstetric providers to ensure they
and the patients they care for are aware
of CDC recommendations for antiviral
medications and flu vaccine so pregnant
women can be protected from severe
complications
In your opinion, which emerging
infectious diseases pose the greatest
danger to public health?
Experts in the field overwhelmingly
say that a severe flu pandemic is the
biggest danger to public health. We saw
in this year’s flu season how severe and
widespread flu can be – but this was with
flu viruses to which many people were
already immune and for which we had
a relatively effective vaccine. A novel
influenza virus that causes a severe illness
could wreak havoc since most people
would not have immunity against the
new virus. Therefore, many people could
become severely ill quickly and options
for preventing morbidity and mortality
would be limited. It is essential that we
continue to prioritize preparedness for
the next influenza pandemic. In addition,
preparedness for an influenza pandemic
helps us to prepare for other emerging
infectious diseases, given that some of the
same public health interventions can be
useful for other infections.
APHL has been working with CDC to
strengthen infectious disease testing at
clinical and public health laboratories
across the US. How can APHL continue
to advance these practices for
laboratories both in the US and globally?
APHL is an essential partner for CDC
and public health as we work to improve
testing for infectious diseases. We lean
on APHL and its members to share their
expertise and their real-world experience
with infectious disease testing. Keep
doing what you’re doing—we need you! n
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