Table 3.

Top 10 accomplishments of the global network, 2009:

1. Conducted active infectious disease surveillance, capacity building, training or outbreak investigations in approximately 92 countries and 500 locations through a global network of partners.
2. Served as the primary source for global avian influenza detection. Of globally reported H5N1 infections, 71 percent (37 of 52) were identified or confirmed at DoD partner laboratories funded by AFHSC-GEIS, with the vast majority being performed at the NAMRU-3 laboratory in Cairo, Egypt.
3. Detected the first four cases of novel A/H1N1 through two partner laboratories, the Naval Health Research Center and the U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine. Communicated results to the CDC.
4. Supported the diagnostic confirmation of the first novel A/H1N1 cases in 14 countries (Bhutan, Cambodia, Colombia, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Nepal, Peru, Republic of the Seychelles).
5. Centrally consolidated over eight laboratory- and region-specific partner reports into an extremely well-received and informative one-page dynamic document of the “Department of Defense Global Surveillance Summary.”
6. Improved infrastructure at 52 laboratories in 46 countries, including eight military and 44 civilian laboratories, with emphasis on influenza, and leveraged capability for other emerging infectious disease initiatives.
7. Sponsored and/or conducted 123 training exercises with more than 3,130 representatives from 40 countries.
8. Responded to more than 76 outbreaks in 53 countries; 24 outbreaks were at U.S. domestic and foreign installations, 36 were in partnership with foreign civilian entities and 15 with foreign militaries.
9. More than 15 reports of first laboratory confirmation of etiologic disease causes in regions where the disease had not been previously reported, including leptospirosis, yellow fever, Q fever, brucellosis, St. Louis encephalitis, Venezuelan equine encephalitis, various rickettioses and other pathogens.
10. Supported partners tested more than 72,000 respiratory samples, of which more than 17,000 (24 percent) were influenza-positive and more than 10,000 (15 percent) were novel A(H1N1).

AFHSC-GEIS: Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System; DoD: Department of Defense; NAMRU-3: Naval Medical Research Unit Number 3; CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention