U.S.-Mexico Border Infectious Disease Surveillance Project Explained

The U.S.-Mexico Border Infectious Disease Surveillance Project (BIDS) was a bilateral project undertaken by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in cooperation with the Mexican government (specifically the Mexican Secretariat of Health) to promote bi-national border surveillance relating to the spread of harmful diseases between the two nations as well as to establish regional protocol.^[1]

Beginnings

The development of the project began in 1997.^[2] Over a period of three years, a team of officials from both nations constructed an "active, sentinel surveillance system" over a series of 13 clinical sites.

The primary goal of the project was to demonstrate "that a binational effort with local, state, and federal participation can create a regional surveillance system that crosses an international border".

Investigations

The BIDS project conducted investigations of reports concerning an outbreak of dengue fever in Texas and measles in California and Baja California.

Notes and References

1. Web site: The US-Mexico Border Infectious Disease Surveillance Project . January 2003 . May 12, 2011 . Weinberg M, Waterman S, Lucas CA, Falcon VC, Morales PK, Lopez LA .
2. 12533288 . The U.S.-Mexico Border Infectious Disease Surveillance project: establishing bi-national border surveillance. . National Institutes of Health . January 2003. Weinberg M, Waterman S, Lucas CA, Falcon VC, Morales PK, Lopez LA, Peter C, Gutiérrez AE, Gonzalez ER, Flisser A, Bryan R, Valle EN, Rodriguez A, Hernandez GA, Rosales C, Ortiz JA, Landen M, Vilchis H, Rawlings J, Leal FL, Ortega L, Flagg E, Conyer RT, Cetron M . 9 . 1 . 2873746 . Emerging Infect. Dis. . 97–102 . 10.3201/eid0901.020047.