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CalSurv: One-Stop Shopping for Vectorborne Disease Surveillance in California

Sept. 14, 2007 (See CalSurv Web site)

The EAIT Team
The UC Davis EAIT team is directed by medical entomologist Bruce Eldridge (front), emeritus professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology, and former director of the statewide UC Mosquito Research Program. In back (from left) are team members Bborie Park, network administrator and programmer; William Reisen, research entomologist; and Christopher Barker, a doctoral student in entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
DAVIS— Surv’s up.

CalSurv, that is.

Comprehensive information on West Nile virus, plague, malaria, Lyme disease, trench fever and other vectorborne diseases in California — where they are, where they’ve been, where they may be headed and what new diseases may be emerging — is now just a click away.

A newly launched Web site (managed by the California Vectorborne Disease Surveillance System, or “CalSurv” for short, is “one-stop shopping for vectorborne disease surveillance information in the state,” said medical entomologist Bruce Eldridge of the Center for Vectorborne Diseases (CVEC), University of California, Davis.

“The CalSurv Web site serves as a portal or a single interface to all surveillance-related Web sites in California,” said Eldridge, who directs CVEC’s Environmental Assessment and Information Technology Program (EAIT), the technical development-and-maintenance arm of the project.  “We are accommodating both the scientific community and the general public.”

“CalSurv is another example of our ‘three-legged stool’ approach to vectorborne disease surveillance, prevention, and control in California,” said Eldridge, an emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis and the 1986-2000 director of the statewide UC Mosquito Research Program.

 “Protecting California citizens from these diseases is too broad and complex an undertaking for any one agency, and we are fortunate to have a tradition of cooperation among the California Department of Public Health, local mosquito and vector control agencies, and the University of California.”

Examples of the "three-legged stool" approach include:

“CalSurv is geared toward efficient, rapid and cost-effective means of surveillance data reporting and analysis,” Eldridge said. Besides providing information on mosquitoborne diseases, the project aims to strengthen the visibility of other vectorborne diseases, including plaque, transmitted by infected fleas on rodents, and tickborne diseases such as Lyme disease, spread by tick bites.

Considered one of the most modern vectorborne disease surveillance systems in the country, CalSurv is the result of federal grants and cooperative efforts of CVEC, CDPH, and the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California (MVCAC), which represents 61 mosquito and vector control districts.  

CalSurv, online since May 1, replaces the former surveillance Web site (http://www.vector.ucdavis.edu.) “CalSurv has been very well received,” Eldridge said.

Said Vicki Kramer, chief of the Vector-borne Disease Section, CDPH:  “The CalSurv Web site provides an excellent forum for the exchange of current information on vector-borne diseases in California. It is an important resource for public health and vector control professionals, and will assist the general public in furthering their understanding of plague, hantavirus, West Nile virus, tick-borne diseases, and related topics.”

Chris Voight, executive director MVCAC, described the Web site as “fantastic and very professional. I think its development represents a positive step forward.”

“The site will greatly aid the three-pronged mission of the mosquito control districts:  surveillance, public education and mosquito control,” Voight said.

The concept of CalSurv sprang from a desire to unify the efforts of the three cooperating agencies in the area of vectorborne disease surveillance, Eldridge said.  From the viewpoint of UC Davis, he said, it is consistent with the EAIT’s mission: “to develop modern methods of management of vectorborne disease research and surveillance data, to develop predictive models based on these data, and to facilitate sharing of research and surveillance data among California agencies, leading to prevention and control of these diseases.”

The interactive site is funded by federal grants awarded to CVEC research entomologist William Reisen from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In addition, Scripps Institution of Oceanography collaborates with the CVEC researchers in integrating climate data.

CVEC network administrator Bborie Park, who designed and coded the structure, maintains the server at CVEC’s Old Davis Road complex.

Computer programmer Ervic Aquino of the CDPH Vector-borne Disease Section recently re-designed the West Nile virus Web site, which contains comprehensive information on statewide WNV activity. It serves as the primary information source for the public, journalism media and government officials, and  provides an interface to CDPH’s dead bird and squirrel testing programs.

The Gateway, which Park designed, coded and launched two years ago as a separate entity--and continues to refine-- is an integral part of CalSurv. It’s where mosquito abatement agencies and CVEC and CDPH laboratories record and manage arbovirus surveillance information, which drives the statewide data output. Scientists can calculate mosquito abundance anomalies, viral infection rates, geocode addresses, bulk-upload locally maintained surveillance data,, and compare mosquito species, such as Culex pipiens, C. tarsalis and C. quinquefasciatus,  all of which transmit West Nile virus.

The Gateway also provides interactive mapping for district surveillance data.  “The Gateway has been an invaluable support tool in the state’s fight against the ongoing West Nile virus epidemic,” said research entomologist Reisen, a graduate student advisor in the Department of Entomology.

Said Eldridge: “The Gateway is powerful and complex. It offers a complete management system for surveillance activities, data maintenance, and data analysis.”

EAIT team member Christopher Barker, a UC Davis doctoral student in entomology, has been developing the predictive models for mosquitoborne arbovirus risk based on a number of climatic and land use factors in California. He has also assembled a historical electronic database of arbovirus surveillance indicators, such as mosquito abundance estimates, sentinel chicken seroconversions, and mosquito pool tests.  This model will eventually find its way into the surveillance gateway.
 
The CalSurv Web site uses a content management system, a technology allowing individuals to assume complete control over their designated portion of the Web site. The individual surveillance specialists can upload text, graphics and other content.  

Web users can navigate the CalSurv site by disease, vector, pathogen or media format.  They can receive data on the last 28 days of positive West Nile virus cases; CDPH current and past weekly arbovirus bulletins; links to weather and climate Web sites; and information about malaria outbreaks in the state, dating back to 1945.

 “The same species of anopheline mosquitoes that transmitted malaria back in the mid-1800s are still here in California,” said UC Davis medical entomologist Robert Washino, emeritus professor and former chair of the Department of Entomology, who provided information for the malaria site. The United States wiped out malaria by 1950, but outbreaks can and do occur.

Another feature: CalSurv can alert Web users to future vectorborne diseases, such as Rift Valley fever, a mosquito-borne disease that infects livestock and humans. Primarily found in the cattle and sheep-raising regions of southern and eastern Africa, the disease  could easily emerge here, just as the West Nile virus did in 1999, scientists say.

Eldridge, whose medical entomology career spans 52 years, does double duty as “Dr. Vector,” responding to e-mail questions.  One did not know of the state’s mosquito abatement districts (MAD). Another sought information on where to report a neglected swimming pool (Eldridge referred her to the county public health department).

Another asked: “Is the West Nile virus here to stay?”

It is, and so is CalSurv. “We’re continuing to evolve,” Eldridge said.

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-Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications
Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894