title: Disease surveillance methods used in the 8-site MAL-ED cohort study.
abstract: Describing the early life associations between infectious disease episodes and growth, cognitive development, and vaccine response in the first 2 years of life is one of the primary goals of the Etiology, Risk Factors and Interactions of Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child Health and Development (MAL-ED) cohort study. To collect high-resolution data during a critical early period of development, field staff visit each study participant at their house twice weekly from birth to 2 years of age to collect daily reported illness and treatment data from caregivers. Detailed infectious disease histories will not only allow us to relate the overall burden of infectious disease with the primary outcomes of the study, but will also allow us to describe the ages at which infectious diseases have the greatest effect on child health. In addition, twice-weekly visits allow for sample collection when diarrhea episodes are identified. This article describes the methods used to collect illness and treatment history data and discusses the a priori definitions of diarrhea and acute lower respiratory illness episodes.
authors.affiliation: Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Stephanie A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.affiliation: Center for Global Health, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville.
authors.forename: Leah J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.affiliation: Center for Global Health, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville.
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Guerrant
authors.affiliation: Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland Program in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control, Department of International Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Checkley
authors.affiliation: Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015340:Epidemiologic Research Design; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D014611:Vaccination
keywords: MAL-ED; diarrhea; infectious disease; respiratory infection; surveillance