Influenza surveillance using electronic health records in the American Indian and Alaska Native population.

Objective: Increasing use of electronic health records (EHRs) provides new opportunities for public health surveillance. During the 2009 influenza A (H1N1) virus pandemic, we developed a new EHR-based influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance system designed to be resource sparing, rapidly scalable, and flexible. 4 weeks after the first pandemic case, ILI data from Indian Health Service (IHS) facilities were being analyzed.

Alaska Native adolescent views on cervical cancer, the human papillomavirus (HPV), genital warts and the quadrivalent HPV vaccine.

Objectives: To understand the knowledge levels, attitudes and perceptions of Alaska Native adolescent girls about cervical cancer, HPV, genital warts and the HPV vaccine.

Study Design: A qualitative study.

Methods: Seventy-nine in-depth interviews were conducted with adolescent females aged 11 through 18 years in 4 communities in Alaska.

2009 Pandemic influenza A H1N1 in Alaska: temporal and geographic characteristics of spread and increased risk of hospitalization among Alaska Native and Asian/Pacific Islander people.

Alaska Native people have suffered disproportionately from previous influenza pandemics. We evaluated 3 separate syndromic data sources to determine temporal and geographic patterns of spread of 2009 pandemic influenza A H1N1 (pH1N1) in Alaska, and reviewed records from persons hospitalized with pH1N1 disease in 3 areas in Alaska to characterize clinical and epidemiologic features of disease in Alaskans. A wave of pH1N1 disease swept through Alaska beginning in most areas in August or early September.