Uniting IEIP staff through a laboratory workshop for respiratory disease

By Ben Silk

Laboratory exercises created opportunities for applied learning and technical interactions among participants in an International Emerging Infections Program workshop.

For a week in September 2007, a total of 24 laboratory scientists from Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Guatemala, Kenya, and Thailand came together in Atlanta to meet and share experiences within the International Emerging Infections Program (IEIP) network. The Laboratory Workshop for Respiratory Disease was hosted by the Division of Emerging Infections and Surveillance Services (DEISS) in the National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases (NCPDCID), with participation from microbiologists and epidemiologists specializing in influenza and bacterial and viral respiratory diseases from the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD).

The focus of the workshop was on respiratory disease diagnostics using polymerase chain reaction, known as PCR. Also contributing were CDC staff from the Division of Scientific Resources and the Division of Laboratory Systems, both in NCPDCID; the Office of Health and Safety and the Office of Workforce and Career Development in the CDC Office of the Director; and the Coordinating Office for Global Health.

“It was really a cross-cutting workshop that brought together experts from all over CDC,” said Sonja J. Olsen, PhD, team lead for the Global Activities Team in DEISS. Dr. Olsen’s group coordinates scientific and programmatic elements across the IEIP sites.

The workshop was the first time that IEIP laboratory staff were brought together as part of a network, an important aspect that was appreciated by Dr. Alejandra Estévez of the University del Valle in Guatemala. “Our team from IEIP-Guatemala found the workshop very valuable. It was exciting to meet our colleagues in other countries, and we had an opportunity to learn from their experiences and exchange ideas and concerns,” she noted.

Lisa Ciazza, a CDC public health prevention service fellow, coordinated the planning and development of the workshop.

The workshop was designed to support formal and informal exchanges of information among the international participants, CDC field staff, and subject matter experts at CDC in Atlanta. Each IEIP participant presented scientific and technical information on respiratory diseases and their global activities to monitor, characterize, and prevent disease. All IEIP sites are conducting population-based surveillance for pneumonia, influenza, and other respiratory diseases in order to improve local and global knowledge of their incidence, etiologies, and burden on healthcare and the economy as well as to inform policy decisions on public health interventions. For example, several good vaccines, including vaccines for pneumococcal disease and influenza, are available but not yet widely used in developing and middle-income countries.

“One goal of this workshop was to facilitate interactions and knowledge transfer among individual sites and between the sites and the Atlanta CDC staff. It was exciting to see this goal being realized during the workshop as sites shared their challenges and solutions with us and with one another,” explained Melisa Willby, PhD, Division of Viral Diseases, NCIRD. The workshop agenda reflected this perspective by designating ample time for ‘hands-on’ laboratory exercises in small groups, tours of CDC laboratory facilities, and evening social events in addition to classroom sessions. Evaluation data from the workshop showed that participants’ understanding of activities in their colleagues’ laboratories increased substantially from an average of 1.2 (on a 5-point scale) before the workshop to 3.5 on average after the workshop.

Cyrus Wachira from IEIP-Kenya commented, “It’s true that one can know how to do things on his or her own and achieve good results, but the best results are achieved when one compares and shares his or her experiences with others.” All participants also either agreed or strongly agreed with the evaluation statement, ‘I am confident that I can contact my CDC counterparts for technical consultation.’

Laboratory scientists with the International Emerging Infections Program network, including CDC staff and visitors from Bangladesh, China, Egypt, Guatemala, Kenya, and Thailand, participated in an International Emerging Infections Program workshop at CDC headquarters in Atlanta.

In fact, the workshop supports all pillars of the IEIP network, namely surveillance, outbreak response, public health research, training and capacity building, and networking. In watching the international visitors work together to achieve these common goals and benefit public health, DBD’s Jonas Winchell, PhD, described his workshop experience as “inspiring.”

In part because of its success, the workshop will be held again in order to continue providing learning and exchange opportunities for additional staff in existing sites and, as the IEIP expands to other countries, staff from new sites. IEIPs are a core component of CDC’s Global Disease Detection Program whose strategy indicates future expansion. Additional information about IEIP is available online at www.cdc.gov/ieip.

About the author

Benjamin Silk is an associate service fellow in the Division of Emerging Infections and Surveillance Services, National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases.