Surveillance
One effort of the Aquatic Toxins Disease Prevention Program, is to develop, enhance and implement
an effective and robust epidemiological surveillance system to better understand
the distribution and extent of human illness related to aquatic toxins associated
with harmful algal blooms
One of the main tools the Aquatic Toxins Disease Prevention Program
uses to detect and follow these illnesses is through a collaboration with
the Florida Poison Control Centers (PCC).
Florida Poison Control Information Center-Miami
Toll-Free Hotline: 1-800-222-1222
 Located
at the University of Miami School of Medicine, the Florida Poison Control
Information Center-Miami provides a 24 hour, 7 day/week, 365 day per year
toll-free telephone number (1-800-222-1222) for use by the public and for
health professionals to assist in the diagnosis and management of patients
with marine and fresh water poisonings and stings.
This hotline is staffed by physicians, nurses and pharmacists, certified
as specialists in poison information by the American Association of Poison
Control Centers (AAPCC). The Center performs daily surveillance to detect
the emergence of human health concerns and cases from harmful algal blooms
(red tide), ciguatera, scombroid, sea-lice, and coelenterate poisoinings
and stings (jellyfish and Portuguese-man-o-war stings); and detect the emergence
of important public health events involving rare marine and freshwater poisonings
such as tetrodotoxin, pfisteria, paralytic shellfish poisoning, and domoic
acid induced amnestic shellfish poisoning. Reportable exposures are immediately
reported to the Florida Department of Health for investigation.
Aquatic Toxins Program Surveillance Initiative
Staff from the Aquatic Toxins Program has developed collaborative interdisciplinary
initiatives with various programs, both within the Department and outside
entities, to facilitate data sharing and to promote integrated response
plans. These include:
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FDOH Food and Waterborne Program: data sharing and integration;
synergistic development of outreach material; collaborations on web access
development to Florida Poison Information Center database.
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FDOH Health Tracking Section: identification
of health-related databases.
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FDOH Reportable Disease Network (Merlin): Access to raw database
and notification of aquatic toxin related illness;
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FDOH Epidemiology "EpiCom" listserve program for notification of aquatic
toxin related exposures and environmental health events;
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FDOH Division of Disease Control and Health Protection Preparedness Coordinator:
integration and sharing of surveillance data. Collaborations on web access
development to Florida Poison Information Center database.
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FDOH Water Programs: linkages with Healthy Beach and Fresh
Water Bathing Areas Programs; Public Water Supply Program; and Drinking
Water Toxics Section.
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FDOH County Health Departments: Environmental Health and Epidemiology
Programs.
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Florida Poison Information Center: developed web-based access to secure
database for poisoning information including personal identifiers.
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Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Parks Service:
initiated contacts for outreach activities directed to both employees
in at-risk parks and to visitors. A study design and implementation
schedule is being developed for an epidemiological assessment of cyanotoxin
health effects (Lyngbya wollei) in Ichetucknee Springs State Park.
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St. Johns River Water Management District (SJWMD): continue developing
interdepartmental collaborations to assess both ecological and health
impacts from cyanobacterial blooms.
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Florida Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) of the Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC): FDOH gained web access
to environmental data collected by FMRI including bird kill database and
fish kill database. Efforts are continuing to gain additional linkages
to HAB data through an ARC-IMS platform.
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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Coastal
Data Development Center (NCDDC): Utilization of Gulf of Mexico Harmful
Algal Bloom Bulletins for assessment of potential health impacts from
Florida Red Tide Blooms; providing to NOAA comments and suggestions on
Bulletin to facilitate better public health utilization by FDOH Aquatic Toxins Program and
county health departments (CHDs).
Additional activities include working collaboratively with CDC and other
Atlantic-coast states to develop a comprehensive surveillance tool to identify,
document, and report a variety of HAB-related illnesses. Quality assurance
monitoring and adherence with all established security and confidentiality
policies will be ensured and supported.
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