The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) was organized in the USA in the early 1950s in response to the need to have at least one person in each state and territory responsible for public health surveillance of disease

Disease

A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...

s and conditions of public health significance. Since then, CSTE has grown to include members from every U.S. state and territory, Canada, and Great Britain.

The surveillance and epidemiology

Epidemiology

Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...

 of infectious disease

Infectious disease

Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...

s, chronic diseases and conditions, and environmental health concerns are priority areas for CSTE. Members serve as special topic consultants for a broad range of public health concerns such as HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

/AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 and vaccine

Vaccine

A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...

-preventable diseases.

Vision Statement

The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists is committed to improving the public's health by supporting the efforts of epidemiologists working at the state and local level to influence public health programs and policy based on science and data.

Mission statement

CSTE promotes the effective use of epidemiologic data to guide public health practice and improve health. CSTE accomplishes this by supporting the use of effective public health surveillance and good epidemiologic practice through training, capacity development, and peer consultation, developing standards for practice, and advocating for resources and scientifically based policy.

CSTE has worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services headquartered in Druid Hills, unincorporated DeKalb County, Georgia, in Greater Atlanta...

(CDC) on Case Definitions for Public Health Surveillance and Chronic Disease Indicators.

External links

• Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) web site
• Case Definitions for Infectious Conditions Under Public Health Surveillance at CDC
• Chronic Disease Indicators at Department of Health Evaluation Sciences, College of Medicine, Penn State University