On Tuesday, November 19, 2013, the California Emerging Infections Program hosted its 13th annual Under Surveillance symposium at the Elihu Harris Staff Office Building in downtown Oakland. Laboratorians, public health staff, nurses, and many other collaborators in the Bay Area and beyond attended this event. This year’s symposium set an all-time record for enrollment and attendance–over 220 registered for the event and approximately 180 attended. Speaker topics included emerging respiratory viruses, electronic communicable disease reporting, Valley Fever, and an update about human papillomavirus (HPV).

Since 2001, CEIP has provided three free continuing education units to laboratorians and nurses at the annual symposium. While the first symposium was shortly after 9/11, the planning for the event took place well before it. It’s no surprise that the late breaker topic on November 5, 2001 was about credible threats of emerging respiratory diseases.

This year’s topics were equally well-timed. Dr. Julie Vaishampayan described the distinct differences between avian influenza and new variant influenza viruses, as well as characteristics of the newly identified MERS-CoV, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. The presentation about Valley Fever by Dr. Lauren Lee generated many interesting questions about possible modes of prevention including when there might be a vaccine (unknown at this time). The attendees were clearly engaged in Dr. James Watt’s discussion of electronic reporting of communicable disease as several questions arose about the application, feasibility, and limitations of these systems. The session ended with Dr. Ina Park’s stimulating discussion about HPV, the uptake of this vaccine, and data gathered by CEIP’s HPV-Impact project.