Contact_animal (Priority = Low)
Opened this issue · 6 comments
The day0 schema attribute Contact_animal indicates whether the individual has known contact with animals.
The T0 toolkit form collects animal contact information specifically relating to sick or dead animals. Additionally the follow up question in the T0 toolkit requests data on any interaction with domestic animals, including both close proximity and direct contact. Maybe this definition is defined based upon particular pathogen risk, but just to ensure consistency in labels between questions in the T0 form and the G.h day 0 schema.
Should the definitions of animal contact be aligned?
The status and type of animals relevant to any outbreak will change, therefore it is important to have a variable that can capture important at the time. Many diseases transmit via healthy vectors. How we define day0 schema depends on what we want to do with the data. Do we expect these data can be used to quantify different types of risks? If so, then we would need to extend the day0 schema to capture the diversity of what will be reported. I do not feel that this is the objective of the G.h data and therefore recommend to keep the Contact-animal variable at a higher, all inclusive level to capture any animal contact seen relevant to report by the public health agency, dependant on the pathogen. The finer details of risk stratification should be done regionally.
Of note: the T0 variable is going to be useless for the (many) transmission events that occur from healthy animals.
For further discussion regarding the granularity of data required for animal or insect exposure, should data capture be similar to that described in the WHO T1 form;
Did the patient have any direct contact with sick or dead animals? Yes | No | Unknown
Specify contact Trading | Butchering | Handling | Consumption of animal products (include bites or injuries?)
Animal type Name and whether Domestic or Wild
Was the animal dead, sick, had miscarriage or abortion? Yes | No | Unknown
Also add date that contact occurred.
For insect exposure:
Did the patient get stung/bitten by any insect, beetle or other? Yes | No | Unknown
Specify insect
Did the patient notice an increase in the number of insects, ticks, beetles or other? Yes | No | Unknown
Specify details
Did the patient notice any newly observed insects, ticks, beetles or other lately? Yes | No | Unknown
Specify details
Level of patient reported data may not be available in data sources, first section on stings and bites may be sufficient.
Ensure contact with animals data is clear and covers options.
An example will be added for review.
Example of data to capture for animal exposure, taken mainly from the WHO T1 toolkit form https://www.who.int/emergencies/outbreak-toolkit/standardized-data-collection-tools/t1---unknown-disease-case-investigation-form
Exposure_animal example.xlsx
Review of animal contact variables defined in the sheet https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WQXuqeRbOctijcQUGqEoFucumwDdRIxCJRBd188Oqks/edit?gid=911832469#gid=911832469
These cover animal exposure options detailed in T0/T1 toolkits. Expansion to cover insect transmission if this becomes relevant for future tracking e.g. malaria/dengue
Recommendation: animal contact variables reviewed across T0/T1/disease specific toolkits and proposal defined in schema documentation.