Layout 1 ISDS Annual Conference Proceedings 2012. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ISDS 2012 Conference Abstracts Enhancing Surveillance for Arboviral Infections in the Arizona Border Region Orion McCotter*1, Frank Vanskike1, 2, Kacey Ernst2, Ken Komatsu3, Harold Margolis4, Stephen Waterman5, Laura Tippit1, Kay Tomashek4, Anne Wertheimer2, Sonia Montiel5, Catherine Golenko1 and Elizabeth Hunsperger4 1Arizona Department of Health Services, Office of Border Health, Tucson, AZ, USA; 2University of Arizona, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Tucson, AZ, USA; 3Arizona Department of Health Services, Phoenix, AZ, USA; 4Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, Dengue Branch, San Juan, Puerto Rico; 5Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, U.S. - Mexico Unit, San Diego, CA, USA Objective To enhance arboviral surveillance and laboratory capacity to es- tablish a surveillance baseline for the emerging threat of Dengue fever in the Arizona-Mexico border region. Introduction West Nile Virus (WNV) and dengue virus (DENV) are both ar- boviruses which are transmitted to humans by an infected mosquito bite during blood-meal feeding. The clinical presentations of non- neuroinvasive WNV and dengue fever are similar, and symptoms may include acute onset of high fever, headache, myalgia, arthralgia, nausea, vomiting, and often a maculopapular rash. More serious man- ifestations of these viruses include fatal encephalitis and meningitis in WNV patients and fatal hemorrhagic disease in dengue patients. Over the last decade, WNV has spread rapidly across North America, reaching Arizona in 2004, and has become a significant cause of human illness since that time. Even though dengue has been de- scribed as primarily a disease of the tropics and sub-tropical areas, there is a small but significant risk for dengue outbreaks in the con- tinental United States as evidenced by surveillance efforts in Texas that identified local dengue transmission in 2005. In recent years, out- breaks of dengue have occurred in Mexico border states, most no- tably Sonora in 2010. That same year, Arizona had the highest incidence of WNV cases in the U.S. including number of neuroinva- sive disease cases, total cases, and number of deaths per state. The emergence of DENV and WNV as important public health problems maybe have been due to non-effective mosquito control, global de- mographic changes (urbanization and population growth), increased air travel, and inadequate surveillance. Methods Vector mapping: Mapping techniques will be utilized to visually depict Aedes aegypti populations captured from previous seasonal public health environmental vector trapping programs. Laboratory capacity: Multi-state laboratory training by CDC Dengue Branch was held in October 2012. Surveillance: The WNV cases that present to medical services for WNV testing and reported to public health officials are the most se- vere nueroinvasive cases. Much less is understood about the non-neu- roinvasive cases with often present with non-descript symptoms. Results Vector mapping: Comparative densities of Ae. aegypti with aca- demic partners of the Entomology and Public Health conducting a study capturing Ae. aegypti may help to enhance environmental pro- grams. Laboratory Capacity: The laboratory training will cover conven- tional serological methods as well as recently FDA cleared molecu- lar RT-PCR. Participants will include public health laboratory personnel working in molecular and serology diagnostics and other binational partners. Surveillance: A convenient seroprevalence study at sentinel-hos- pital site of symptomatic patients presenting in Arizona border hos- pital sites will be performed to better understand circulating levels of arboviral infections. Conclusions Appropriate and timely response to surveillance data is the key to identification human and animal disease associated with WNV, DENV, and other arboviruses. The mosquito vector Ae. aegypti is well established widespread and thriving in Arizona yet there is no autochthonous transmission of DENV identified to date. The results from this study will identify gaps and potential prevention and con- trol measures for emerging infectious diseases including WNV and DENV in Arizona. Keywords Dengue; Surveillance; Emerging infections; Dengue fever; Arboviral Acknowledgments US-Mexico Border States, Local Health Departments, Sonora Secretariat de Salud, Arizona State Public Health Laboratory. References Hayden, M.H., et al., Microclimate and human factors in the divergent ecology of Aedes aegypti along the Arizona, U.S./Sonora, MX border. Ecohealth, 2010. 7(1): p. 64-77. Walker, K.R., et al., Human and environmental factors affecting Aedes aegypti distribution in an arid urban environment. J Am Mosq Con- trol Assoc, 2011. 27(2): p. 135-41. Hoeck, P.A., et al., Population and parity levels of Aedes aegypti collected in Tucson. J Vector Ecol, 2003. 28(1): p. 65-73. Botz, J.T., Survey of Aedes aegypti eggs in and around homes in Tucson, Arizona. J Am Mosq Control Assoc, 2002. 18(1): p. 63-4. Fink, T.M., et al., Aedes aegypti in Tucson, Arizona. Emerg Infect Dis, 1998. 4(4): p. 703-4. Engelthaler, D.M., et al., The reemergence of Aedes aegypti in Arizona. Emerg Infect Dis, 1997. 3(2): p. 241-2. *Orion McCotter E-mail: Orion.McCotter@azdhs.gov Online Journal of Public Health Informatics * ISSN 1947-2579 * http://ojphi.org * 5(1):e4, 2013