[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 139 (Tuesday, July 21, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43090-43091]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-17792]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-15-15AOX; Docket No. CDC-2015-0052]


Proposed Data Collection Submitted for Public Comment and 
Recommendations

AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS).

ACTION: Notice with comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as part 
of its continuing efforts to reduce public burden and maximize the 
utility of government information, invites the general public and other 
Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or 
continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995.
    This notice invites comment on a proposed Harmful Algal Bloom 
Illness-related Surveillance System (HABISS) information collection.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before September 21, 
2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2015-
0052 by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulation.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
     Mail: Leroy A. Richardson, Information Collection Review 
Office, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road 
NE., MS-D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and Docket Number. All relevant comments received will be posted 
without change to Regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided. For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to Regulations.gov.

    Please note:  All public comment should be submitted through the 
Federal eRulemaking portal (Regulations.gov) or by U.S. mail to the 
address listed above.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the information collection plan 
and instruments, contact the Information Collection Review Office, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE., MS-
D74, Atlanta, Georgia 30329; phone: 404-639-7570; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 
(PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), Federal agencies must obtain approval from 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of 
information they conduct or sponsor. In addition, the PRA also requires 
Federal agencies to provide a 60-day notice in the Federal Register 
concerning each proposed collection of information, including each new 
proposed collection, each proposed extension of existing collection of 
information, and each reinstatement of previously approved information 
collection before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To 
comply with this requirement, we are publishing this notice of a 
proposed data collection as described below.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-
up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services 
to provide information. Burden means the total time, effort, or 
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This 
includes the time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, 
install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of 
collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and 
maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information; to 
train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of 
information, to search data sources, to complete and review the 
collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise disclose the 
information.

Proposed Project

    Harmful Algal Bloom-related Illness Surveillance System (HABISS)--
NEW--National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

[[Page 43091]]

Background and Brief Description

    Due to defunding and as part of a revision in 2014 of the 
information collection entitled National Disease Surveillance Program 
II: Disease Summaries (OMB Control Number 0920-0004), CDC discontinued 
its data collection of harmful algal bloom-related illnesses through 
its Harmful Algal Bloom-related Illness Surveillance System (HABISS). 
However, in part to the Great Lakes Restorative Initiative, the 
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) 
now considers harmful algal bloom-related illness surveillance as a 
priority and will seek a three-year OMB approval for HABISS.
    The goal of harmful algal bloom-related illness surveillance is to 
collect data on harmful algal blooms (HABs), human illnesses, and 
animal illnesses related to HAB exposures and use the data to better 
define and prevent HAB-related illnesses. HABs are the fast growth of 
aquatic organisms including algae, cyanobacteria, phytoplankton, and 
similar organisms. HABs can produce potent natural toxins that can 
contaminate surface water used for recreation, drinking water, or food 
sources. Contaminated water and food can cause illness when people or 
animals have exposures to them. HABs are an emerging public health 
concern with several outbreaks related to HAB exposures through 
contact, inhalation, and ingestion of contaminated fish, shellfish, and 
water. In humans and animals, illnesses related to HAB exposures have 
ranged from dermatologic, respiratory, gastrointestinal, neurological 
illness, and even death. HABs might be identified through the reporting 
of single cases of human or animal illness as indicators.
    HABISS data will be reported by states and territories in a web-
based electronic reporting system. The National Outbreak Reporting 
System (NORS) (OMB Control Number 0920-0004) is an existing password-
protected web-based surveillance platform for national reporting of 
foodborne, waterborne, and other enteric outbreaks. HAB-related 
outbreaks can already be reported by state and territorial health 
departments in NORS; however, there is currently no national 
surveillance for single cases of human or animal illnesses. State and 
territorial staff with access to NORS will be able to use a hyperlink 
on the NORS main user page to report individual human and animal case 
information related to HAB exposures. State agencies will voluntarily 
report single human and animal illnesses related to HAB exposures, as 
well as environmental data about HABs.
    HABISS data will include the date of the HAB, the type of exposure 
that the person or animal had, the length of the exposure, signs and 
symptoms, and laboratory testing. No Personally Identifiable 
Information (PII) will be reported or collected. CDC will use the data 
to better characterize human and animal illnesses related to HAB 
exposures and to inform future prevention efforts, health departments, 
federal partners and other stakeholders.
    There are no costs to respondents other than their time.
    CDC will analyze and present the collected data through summaries 
and reports.
    It is estimated that epidemiologists will report illnesses and HAB 
events three times during the year with a burden of 20 minutes. An 
estimated total burden for HABISS data reporting is 57 hours per year.

                                        Estimated Annualized Burden Hours
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                                                                     Number of    Average burden
      Type of respondents           Form name        Number of     responses per   per response    Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent      (in hours)      (in hours)
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State Epidemiologists.........  Harmful Algal                 57               3           20/60              57
                                 Bloom Illness
                                 Surveillance
                                 System (HABISS)
                                 data elements
                                 (electronic,
                                 year-round).
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............              57
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Leroy A. Richardson,
Chief, Information Collection Review Office, Office of Scientific 
Integrity, Office of the Associate Director for Science, Office of the 
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2015-17792 Filed 7-20-15; 8:45 am]
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