Part B

B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

1. Describe the potential respondent universe and any sampling or other respondent selection methods to be used.

Most investigations of outbreaks or emergencies require information from persons who may be affected by, or have animals affected by, the condition in question. Investigators may, on occasion, need to collect exposure data from a sample of persons to better inform a case series. The respondent universe for this study includes all persons who are employed at the Tulane National Primate Research Center (TNPRC) located at Tulane University in Covington, Louisiana, who have direct or indirect contact with primates at the facility. Direct contact is considered direct primate handling. Indirect contact is considered contact with environmental surfaces, soils, and water; laboratory clothing; or any other objects that primates and staff may commonly contact. These include indoor and outdoor holding area(s), uniforms and other clothing, and items used to maintain facilities (such as feeding, handling and cleaning equipment).

2. Describe the procedures for the collection of information including:

0. Methodology for sample selection:

All employees at the TNPRC will be asked to provide information on private domestic animal ownership or other domestic animal (non-ownership) contact. Respondents will be tracked by staff on-site to characterize the response rate.

The list of potential respondents will be compiled by the Incident Commander in conjunction with the Facility Director, or the Director’s designee.

This list will contain names of persons who are currently employed by TNPRC, or were employed at any time at the Center since August 2014. This list will be turned over to staff working with the VS Field Epidemiology Officer in Louisiana. Case survey data will be collected from 60 persons via anonymous survey.

0. Estimation procedures:

   0. Simple descriptive statistics will be generated. An example would be percent of employees who own animals, by animal type; or the percent of animals that owners report having been ill.

0. Degree of accuracy needed:

1. This is a case series investigation and is limited by number of available cases, budget, and personnel. Extrapolation to a larger population will not be done.

0. Unusual problems requiring specialized sampling procedures and data collection cycles:

1. No specialized sampling procedures or data collection cycles are anticipated.

3. Describe methods to maximize response rates and to deal with issues of non-responses:

0. Study Design:

1. The investigation minimizes collection of data to that which is absolutely necessary.

2. USDA/APHIS/VS is working closely with multiple Federal and State agencies, and TNPRC, to design and implement this epidemiologic investigation.

0. Contacting Respondents:

1. Respondents will be contacted directly at their place of work by TNPRC staff. Questionnaires will be provided to all employees on site since August 2014. Employees no longer with TNPRC but employed since August 2014 will be contacted via phone or mail.

0. Data Collection Steps:

1. Employees will be provided with a questionnaire to be completed independently. The front page of the questionnaire requests the employee’s name and includes instructions for completing the questionnaire. Each respondent will complete a questionnaire in private and return it to a contact person on-site. The contact person will monitor completion rates and track completed forms by recording the name listed on the cover page. To ensure anonymity the cover page containing the respondent’s name will be separated from the study questions and returned to NAHMS.

0. Data Analysis Steps:

   0. No adjustment for non-response will be used in this study. Individual responses from the case series operations will be tallied in a summary form.

4. Describe any tests of procedures or methods to be undertaken.

Pilot tests of procedures for emergency outbreak investigations are rare because of the lack of time available before an investigation proceeds. The questionnaire has been reviewed by a variety of experts including veterinarians and epidemiologists.

5. Provide the name and telephone number of individuals consulted on statistical aspects of the design and the name of the agency unit, contractor(s), grantee(s), or other person(s) who will actually collect and /or analyze the information for the agency.

The statistical aspects of the design were coordinated by Dr. Bruce Wagner, Statistician and Center Director, USDA: APHIS, Veterinary Services, CEAH, Fort Collins, CO, 970-494-7256; and Dr. Kathe Bjork, Veterinary Medical Officer/Biostatistician, USDA: APHIS, Veterinary Services, CEAH, Fort Collins, CO, 970-494-7288.

The contact person for data collection is:

- Dr. John Clifford, Deputy Administrator, USDA: APHIS, Veterinary Services, Washington, DC 202-447-6835.

Analysis of the data will be accomplished by NAHMS veterinarians, epidemiologists, and statisticians under the direction of:

- Dr. Bruce Wagner, National Animal Health Monitoring System, USDA: APHIS, VS, CEAH, 2150 Centre Avenue, Building B MS2E7, Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117 970-494-7256.

All investigations are supervised by experienced epidemiologists with expert statistical resources available.

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