The Louisiana Office of Public Health has supported an active surveillance program since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the state has had confidential reporting since 1993. 

The HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

The program maintains a statewide active surveillance system to identify persons meeting the CDC case definition for HIV infection and AIDS and conducts other studies to further describe HIV/AIDS trends in Louisiana. 

What is the mission of the Surveillance Program?

The mission of the HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program is to

• Monitor the HIV/AIDS epidemic over time;
• Describe the changing characteristics of the epidemic;
• Define its impact on various subpopulations;
• Identify trends in modes of HIV transmission;
• Monitor behaviors associated with HIV transmission;
• Evaluate compliance with current USPHS recommendations for care and treatment; and
• Define mortality of HIV disease.

The Surveillance Program’s efforts are not complete until data have been compiled, analyzed and used by public health, medical, educational and general communities in the state. 

Utilization of these data includes: 

• Increasing public understanding of HIV disease; 
• Assessing and directing prevention programs; 
• Evaluating prevention activities and services for persons with HIV/AIDS;
• Improving referral systems for appropriate prevention and care; and 
• Guiding public health policy.

What are the components of the Surveillance Program?

The main components of the Surveillance Program are: 

Active Case Ascertainment

Field epidemiologists conduct active case surveillance in all geographic regions in Louisiana.  

Reporting sites include a broad spectrum of health care facilities (inpatient and outpatient, public, private and federal), hospitals (within hospitals – ICP, medical records, social services, pharmacy, labs), other in-patient facilities (extended care facilities, hospices, nursing homes), HIV/AIDS clinics, physician offices, other medical clinics, laboratories, blood and plasma centers, home health agencies, chemical dependency facilities, psychiatric units and correctional institutes. 

Field epidemiologists are in routine contact with all reporting sites to help ensure completeness of reporting.

How can I get more information about Active Case Ascertainment?

For more information about Active Case Ascertainment, contact:

Your Regional Field Epidemiologist  or

Betsy Shepard, PA-C, MPH

HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program

1010 Common, 11th floor

New Orleans, LA 70112

(504) 568-7474

 

Laboratory Surveillance

The Laboratory Surveillance program maintains active reporting from laboratories, a critical part of case ascertainment. 

Since 1993-1994, when surveillance systems were revised to accommodate HIV (non-AIDS) reporting and the immunologic criteria of the new AIDS case definition, laboratories have been an important source of surveillance data for HIV infection.  Additionally, evaluation studies have shown laboratory reporting to be efficient and timely. 

In 1999, Louisiana’s Sanitary Code was revised to make reportable all HIV/AIDS-related tests (CD4 counts and viral loads).  To accommodate the high volume of incoming laboratory data, this program is developing computer-based electronic reporting as well as a more expansive data management system to accommodate the incoming data. 

The HIV/AIDS Program coordinates with other OPH programs in the reporting system of other reportable conditions including STDs, tuberculosis and emerging pathogens.

How can I get more information about the Laboratory Surveillance Program?

For more information about the Laboratory Surveillance Program, contact:

Greg Gaines, PhD

HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program

(337) 262-1398

 

Enhanced Perinatal Surveillance  

The Enhanced Perinatal Surveillance Program monitors perinatal transmission rates, as well as the assessment of counseling and testing of pregnant women, prenatal care among HIV-infected women and treatment issues of the women and their infants. 

A data abstraction form is completed for all babies born to HIV-infected women reported to OPH. The babies are followed at six-month intervals to determine their HIV status and, if infected, follow their course of treatment.

How can I get more information about the Enhanced Perinatal Surveillance Program?

For more information about the Enhanced Perinatal Surveillance Program, contact:

Amy Zapata, MPH

HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program

1010 Common, 11th floor

New Orleans, LA 70112

(504) 568-7474

 

HIV Incidence Surveillance

 

Incidence Surveillance was established in late 2004 in Louisiana to identify and study new HIV infections.  While the HIV Surveillance Program has traditionally compiled, analyzed, and distributed information about persons who test positive for HIV, there are many people thought to be infected with HIV who have never been tested.  Incidence Surveillance collects information about persons who test positive and are found likely to have been infected with HIV in the last year and uses this information to calculate the number of all persons, diagnosed and non-diagnosed, with HIV.  By identifying and characterizing persons most recently infected with HIV, Incidence Surveillance enables the public health community to focus on the leading edge of the HIV epidemic, helping to improve targeted prevention efforts.

 

How can I get more information about the Incidence Surveillance program?

 

For more information about the Incidence Surveillance Program, please contact:

 

Amy Zapata

HIV/AIDS Surveillance Program

(504) 568-7474