By Mary-Kathryn Craft

Southern state epidemiologists and top experts in disease control and prevention recently visited Columbia to share best practices.

The Convocation of Southern State Epidemiologists held its regional meeting January 25-27 in Columbia and included more than 60 attendees from a dozen states. DHEC Director Catherine Heigel offered welcoming remarks, and S.C. State Epidemiologist Dr. Linda Bell was instrumental in organizing the meeting, which was in South Carolina for the first time in more than 15 years.

Several DHEC experts gave presentations showcasing successful practices and experiences in South Carolina.

They included:

• Dr. Bell, S.C. State Epidemiologist, Hepatitis A in Food Handlers: When is Postexpo​sure Prophylaxis Warranted for Restaurant Patrons?; Disaster Epidemiology, and Notifications of Breaches in Infection Control
• Dana Waggoner, Microbiologist in the Bureau of Labs, Detecting the Source of a Nationwide Listeria Outbreak
• David Young, Foodborne Disease Epidemiologist, Culture Independent Diagnostic Testing and Case Exclusion
• Nelis Soto-Ramirez, Biostatistician in the Division of Acute Disease Epidemiology, Comparisons of SAS, STATA, R, Epi-Info
• Elizabeth Carter, Syndromic Surveillance Epidemiologist, Surveillance and Data Collection for Disaster Response
• Rachel Radcliffe, S.C. State Public Health Veterinarian, Expected Changes in Animal Rabies Management
• Stan Ostrawski, Infection Preventionist, Conducting Hospital Infection Control Assessments for ELC Supplemental Activities
• Dr. Leon Bullard, Medical Consultant, Group A Strep Cluster Investigations

Congratulations to all the presenters and thank you for sharing your knowledge to help advance the health of the state.