DISEASE SURVEILLLANCE IN USMC FORCES DURING DESERT SHIELD ST

File: 102596_sep96_decls4_0002.txt
Page: 0002
Total Pages: 16

Subject: DISEASE SURVEILLLANCE IN USMC FORCES DURING DESERT SHIELD ST    

Unit: VAR. BUMED  

Parent Organization: BUMED       

Box ID: BX303811

Folder Title: VARIOUS NAVAL MESSAGES FOLDER 2                                                                 

Document Number:          2

Folder SEQ  #:          5





            Structure of Surveillance System

                 A weekly disease surveillance system was established in USMC forces
            ashore during Operation Desert Shield / Desert Storm (DS/DS).
            Surveillance was designed to identify disease trends at the earliest
            possible stage, permitting the rapid focus of preventive medicine
            interventions to sustain combat readiness.        The system was based on a
            weekly summary of sick call visits to every unit-level medical
            department deployed.      In addition, admissions to second and third echelon
            medical facilities were also monitored.      The following is a description of
            how outpatient surveillance worked'.

            Weekly summary reports (encl 1)

                 Each unit was asked to summarize their sick call log each week, and
            submit a standard report to the physician-epidemiologist located at the
            Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) headquarters.            Nine general disease
            categories were monitored.          These categories were based on the
            anticipated medical threat in Saudi Arabia, focusing on problems for
            which specific preventive medicine interventions exist.              The report
            included the troop strength supported by each medical department, so that
            weekly attack rates (expressed as percent per week) could be
            calculated.   Data from each unit was entered into a computer database,
            and analyzed for force-wide trends.        A strong effort was made to gather
            all information and complete the analysis within 5 days of the end of the
            reporting week, to provide REAL TIME feedback to units and                     PM
            personnel.


            Case definitions (encl 2)

                 Broad simple case definitions were established to facilitate and
 was chosen to be as
            sensitive as possible to developing disease trends.            For example, the
            category "heat injury" includes all diagnoses from relatively minor
            dehydration requiring medical attention to severe heat stroke.                 The
            category diarrhea/GI included any diagnosis or symptoms compatible with
            infectious enteritis.    The category "Unexplained fever' was included to
            facilitate early recognition of outbreaks of diseases such as sand-fly
            fever, or other unanticipated infections.

            Sick call patient count worksheet (enci 3)

                 As the surveillance system evolved, a worksheet similar to enclosure
            (3) was developed to facilitate accurate case counts from the sick call

Document 16 f:/Week-37/BX303811/VARIOUS NAVAL MESSAGES FOLDER 2/disease surveilllance in usmc forces during dese:1018961450025
Control Fields 17
File Room = sep96_declassified
File Cabinet = Week-37
Box ID = BX303811
Unit = VAR. BUMED
Parent Organization = BUMED
Folder Title = VARIOUS NAVAL MESSAGES FOLDER 2
Folder Seq # = 5
Subject = DISEASE SURVEILLLANCE IN USMC FORCES DURING DESE
Document Seq # = 2
Document Date =
Scan Date =
Queued for Declassification = 01-JAN-1980
Short Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Long Term Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Permanent Referral = 01-JAN-1980
Non-Health Related Document = 01-JAN-1980
Declassified = 18-OCT-1996