The Bureau of Epidemiology is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for consultation at our main number (SunCom 205-4401 or 850/245-4401) PLEASE NOTE: Consultation after 5 p.m. & on weekends is intended for emergencies.

New selections on the Basic Case Information screen for Reporter Type include: Self, Parent, Animal Control, and Other.

The ICD9 code for Ehrlichiosis, Human has been replaced with two codes, one for Ehrlichiosis, Human Monocytic and one for Ehrlichiosis, Human Granulocytic.

The lab results drop down menu has been changed to include Indeterminate; and Reactive has been removed. Please use the result Positive in the place of Reactive.

There are also many new hepatitis specific test types in the drop down menu on the lab result screens. They are the same test types available on the panel page.

New contact types were added to the Epi-Link Relationship screen to include Personal Contact, Common Food, Undetermined, Environmental, and HC Provider.

Lab number will now be printed on the screen for both unattached and case related lab results.

"Needs DOH Review" has now been changed to "Needs CRF" to clarify the status and now appears on both the data entry and supervisor task lists.

Delivery date for the pregnancy question on the hepatitis extended data screen now allows future dates.

There is now an "Investigator" field on the Basic Case Information screen. This field is for your internal case management. The drop down menu shows all the user ID’s for your county and will be visible only to your county Merlin users. We are working on building reports and incorporating this field value into the Task List.

Please let me know if you have any questions or email the Merlin Helpdesk.

-Kathryn Snavely
S/C 205-4444, X2447

Florida: Florida is one of 13 states still reporting low levels of influenza activity. Overall, two percent of 14,870 patients seeking care by reporting physicians in the influenza sentinel surveillance network met the case definition for ILI during week 5. Influenza-like illness activity was detected statewide from Escambia to Miami Dade. Higher flu activity than expected for this time of year (>3%) was reported by physicians in Alachua, Escambia, Pasco and Polk counties. Eight+ isolates of influenza were reported to our laboratory database this week: influenza A (H1N1) was isolated from patients in Charlotte (1), Duval (3), and Leon (1) counties. Influenza A was also detected in specimens collected from a patient in Palm Beach County. Flu B was reported from Alachua (1), Duval (3), Hillsborough (1) and Leon (2) counties. Since October 1,115 influenza isolations have been reported to the state health office: 40 influenza A (H1N1) isolates from Broward, Charlotte, Dade, Duval, Escambia, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Leon, Nassau, Orange and Polk counties, one influenza A (H3N2) from Duval county, 15 untyped influenza A isolates from Alachua, Clay, Columbia, Hillsborough, Orange, Palm Beach and Pinellas counties) and 59 influenza B isolates from Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Clay, Duval, Hillsborough, Indian River, Leon, Levy, Orange, Palm Beach, Santa Rosa, Seminole and Volusia counties.

National report: Eleven (Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Washington) state and territorial health departments reported widespread and 26 states reported regional activity during week 5. WHO and NREVSS laboratories reported 1,459 specimens tested for influenza viruses, of which 323 (22%) were positive. Sixty-nine (21%) were influenza A (H1N1) viruses, 167 (52%) were unsubtyped influenza A viruses, and 87 (27%) were influenza B viruses. The highest yield in recent weeks (week 3-5) was seen in from patients in the South Atlantic region (which includes Florida) where 35% tested positive for flu.

The 2000-2001 flu vaccine induces reactive antibodies against all 247virus strains that have been antigenically characterized at CDC this year.

During week 5, the percentage of all deaths due to P&I as reported by the vital statistics offices of 122 U.S. cities was 7.6%, which is below the epidemic threshold of 8.7%

Four percent of patient visits to U.S. sentinel physicians were due to influenza-like illness (ILI). The percentage of patient visits for ILI was above baseline levels (3%) in 8 of 9 surveillance regions. Influenza activity was within baseline levels in the East North Central Region (Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin).

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) activity is declining across the state. Between 13.0 and 25.2% of tested specimens were positive for RSV this week. Twelve Florida hospital laboratories participate in this program.