Subcommittee Chairs:

Carina Blackmore, DVM, PhD (FL)

Liz Dykstra, PhD, BCE (WA)

The purpose of the Vector-Borne Diseases (VBD) Subcommittee is to increase knowledge and improve practices related to VBD epidemiology in local, state, tribal, and territorial settings. The mission of the Subcommittee is to promote and support collaboration among public health professionals to enhance the surveillance and prevention of VBD.

CSTE supports the VBD Subcommittee through ad hoc subcommittee conference calls and webinars, sharing of relevant resources and communication materials, position statements and briefs, and a ‘community of practice’ webpage. CSTE also offers virtual peer-to-peer technical assistance to support new or less established VBD surveillance coordinators and staff to gain experience from larger, more established VBD programs.

Key activities that have supported VBD epidemiology and surveillance include: 

• Development of a Zika Virus Preparedness Toolkit, which includes resources to enhance state and local public health capacity to develop and implement evidence-based prevention and control strategies for Zika virus;
• Periodic VBD surveillance capacity assessments and reports to better understand the existing arboviral surveillance capacity within state and select local health departments;
• Development of Core Components of Comprehensive State and Local VBD Prevention Programming, a collaborative, consensus-driven project with CDC, state and local stakeholders, and SGNL Solutions that identifies the components and capabilities of a comprehensive framework to reduce illness and death from VBDs; and
• Past regional collaboration meetings.

Resources:  

• Core Components of Comprehensive State and Local VBD Prevention Programming
• Zika Virus Preparedness Resources Toolkit
• Zika Resource Repository
• Zika Blog Post: Zika Virus: An Emerging Infectious Disease in the Western Hemisphere and an Emerging CSTE Response
• 2017-2018 VBD Regional Meetings Summary
• 2012 VBD Surveillance Capacity Assessment Report
• 2017 VBD Surveillance Capacity Assessment Report
• MMWR: National Capacity for Surveillance, Prevention, and Control of West Nile Virus and Other Arbovirus Infections — United States, 2004 and 2012

For more information about the VBD Subcommittee and its activities, please contact Rachel Radcliffe. Click here to view other Infectious Disease Steering Committee activities.