Overview

The Border Infectious Disease Surveillance (BIDS) Project was formed in response to binational consensus among public health officials about the need for a system on active surveillance of infectious disease along the U.S.-Mexico border. The emerging infectious diseases in the border area picked to surveillance are Hepatitis A, B, C, D, E and the Febrile Exanthems, including Dengue and West Nile Virus.
 
Nine clinical facilities in four geographically grouped cities along the border participate in this surveillance:
 
Group I: Tijuana and San Diego
Group II: Ciudad Juarez, El Paso, and Las Cruces
Group III: Reynosa and McAllen
Group IV: Matamoros and Brownsville
Group V: Mexicali and Imperial
Group VI: Nuevo Laredo and Laredo, and
Groups VII & VIII: Nogales Sonora, Nogales, and Tucson. 
 
BIDS is designed, implemented and conducted by public health agencies on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Participants include local and state public health officials from the ten states along the U.S.-Mexico border and representatives of the Pan-American Health Association (PAHO), the United States Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Dirección General de Epidemiológia (DGE), the Instituto Nacional de Diagnostico y Referencias Epidemiológicos (INDRE) of Mexico, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States.
 
Objectives 
 
1. Establish an active, binational sentinel surveillance network that uses standardized data collection instruments, operational definitions, and laboratory diagnostic tests to enhance infectious disease surveillance at clinical sites located along the U.S.-Mexico border. 
 
2. Gather and exchange disease incidence and risk factor information that will assist public health officials with the development of binational control and prevention strategies appropriate for this region. 
 
3. Improve local laboratory diagnostic capabilities by supporting and enhancing those local laboratories that provide services for BIDS-affiliated sentinel sites. 
 
4. Develop educational and training opportunities for local public health practitioners as part of broader efforts to improve public health infrastructure in the region. 
 
5. Improve binational communications and data exchange between public health officials by electronically linking BIDS sentinel sites, laboratories, and local, regional, and state epidemiologists. 
 
 
The CDC has published a report on the BIDS project in the publication "Emerging Infectious Diseases", Volume 9, Number 1, January 2003. The report may be viewed by visiting the CDC website or may be obtained in PDF format.