BUREAU PROGRAMS

• Analytical Environmental Epidemiology
• Asthma Program
• Aquatic Toxins
• Birth Defects Registry
• Chemical Disease Surveillance
• Environmental Public Health Tracking
• Food and Waterborne Disease
• Hazardous Waste Site Health Risk Assessment
• Healthy Homes and Lead Poisoning Prevention Program
• Pesticide Poisoning Surveillance
• Rabies Surveillance
• Toxicology
• Vector-borne Disease
• Zoonotic Disease

Overview

One effort of the Aquatic Toxins Program, is to develop, enhance and implement an effective and robust epidemiological surveillance system to better understand the distribution and extent of human illness related to aquatic toxins associated with harmful algal blooms

One of the main tools the Aquatic Toxins Program uses to detect and follow these illnesses is through a collaboration with the Florida Poison Control Centers (PCC).  An "Aquatic Toxins Hotline" has been implemented through the Miami PCC. 

Florida Poison Control Information Center-Miami

Home of the Florida "Aquatic Toxins" Toll-Free Hotline: 888-232-8635

Located at the University of Miami School of Medicine, the Florida Poison Control Information Center-Miami provides a 24 hour, 7 day/week, 365 day per year toll-free telephone number (888-232-8635) for use by the public and for health professionals to assist in the diagnosis and management of patients with marine and fresh water poisonings and stings.

This hotline is staffed by physicians, nurses and pharmacists, certified as specialists in poison information by the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC). The Center performs daily surveillance to detect the emergence of human health concerns and cases from harmful algal blooms (red tide), ciguatera, scombroid, sea-lice, and coelenterate poisoinings and stings (jellyfish and Portuguese-man-o-war stings); and detect the emergence of important public health events involving rare marine and freshwater poisonings such as tetrodotoxin, pfisteria, paralytic shellfish poisoning, and domoic acid induced amnestic shellfish poisoning. Reportable exposures are immediately reported to the Florida Department of Health for investigation.

For an overview of the collaboration between the Florida Department of Health Aquatic Toxins Program and the Florida Poison Control Information System read about the Aquatic Toxins Hotline (pdf file ).

UM Technical Consultation for Aquatic Toxins Surveillance

The Florida Department of Health Aquatic Toxins Program collaborates with scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences/Miller School of Medicine/Oceans and Human Health Center/NIEHS Marine and Freshwater Biomedical Sciences Center to perform surveillance, research, outreach and education related to the marine and freshwater toxin related human diseases and their exposures and for the development of an expanded surveillance system for the marine and freshwater toxin diseases, including the integration of environmental exposure information. 

The University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (RSMAS) is home to many of the nation’s leading experts in the field of surveillance and research of marine toxins and harmful algal blooms. UM researchers have collaborated with the Florida Department of Health for over 6 years on a range of issues concerning the marine and freshwater toxin related illnesses.  During that time, studies of the human health effects of the pfiesteria like organisms, the Florida Red Tide toxins (brevetoxins), Ciguatera fish poisoning, and the cyanobacteria (blue green algal toxins) have been initiated.  For an overview of the collaboration between the Florida Department of Health Aquatic Toxins Program and RSMAS, please follow the link, UM Technical Consultation (pdf file )

Aquatic Toxins Program Surveillance Initiative  

Staff from the Aquatic Toxins Program has developed collaborative interdisciplinary initiatives with various programs, both within the Department and outside entities, to facilitate data sharing and to promote integrated response plans.  These include:

• FDOH Food and Waterborne Program:  data sharing and integration; synergistic development of outreach material; collaborations on web access development to Florida Poison Information Center database.

• FDOH Environmental Medicine Program Health Tracking Section: identification of health-related databases.

• FDOH Reportable Disease Network (Merlin):  Access to raw database and notification of aquatic toxin related illness;

• FDOH Epidemiology "EpiCom" listserve program for notification of aquatic toxin related exposures and environmental health events;

• FDOH Division of Environmental Health Preparedness Coordinator:  integration and sharing of surveillance data. Collaborations on web access development to Florida Poison Information Center database.

• FDOH Bureau of Water Programs: linkages with Healthy Beach and Fresh Water Bathing Areas Programs; Public Water Supply Program; and Drinking Water Toxics Section.

• FDOH County Health Departments: Environmental Health and Epidemiology Programs. 

• Florida Poison Information Center: developed web-based access to secure database for poisoning information including personal identifiers.

• Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Parks Service:  initiated contacts for outreach activities directed to both employees in at-risk parks and to visitors.  A study design and implementation schedule is being developed for an epidemiological assessment of cyanotoxin health effects (Lyngbya wollei) in Ichetucknee Springs State Park.

• St. Johns River Water Management District (SJWMD):  continue developing interdepartmental collaborations to assess both ecological and health impacts from cyanobacterial blooms.

• Florida Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWCC):  FDOH gained web access to environmental data collected by FMRI including bird kill database and fish kill database.  Efforts are continuing to gain additional linkages to HAB data through an ARC-IMS platform.

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Coastal Data Development Center (NCDDC):  Utilization of Gulf of Mexico Harmful Algal Bloom Bulletins for assessment of potential health impacts from Florida Red Tide Blooms; providing to NOAA comments and suggestions on Bulletin to facilitate better public health utilization by FDOH ATP and their county health departments (CHDs).

Additional activities include working collaboratively with CDC and other Atlantic-coast states to develop a comprehensive surveillance tool to identify, document, and report a variety of HAB-related illnesses.  Quality assurance monitoring and adherence with all established security and confidentiality policies will be ensured and supported. 

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