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[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 59 (Friday, March 27, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16397-16398]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [http://www.gpo.gov/]
[FR Doc No: 2015-07036]

[[Page 16397]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

[60Day-15-15UR; Docket No. CDC-2015-0010]

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 newly proposed 
information collection activities for enhanced surveillance of 
Coccidioidomycosis in low- and non-endemic states.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before May 26, 2015.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2015-
0010 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: omb@cdc.gov.

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

    Enhanced Surveillance of Coccidioidomycosis in Low- and Non-Endemic 
States--New--National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious 
Diseases (NCEZID), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

    Coccidioidomycosis, also called ``Valley fever,'' is a nationally 
notifiable fungal infection caused by inhalation of soil-dwelling 
Coccidioides spp. In the United States, coccidioidomycosis is known to 
be endemic in the southwestern states, but new evidence suggests that 
the true endemic areas may be broader than previously recognized. 
Approximately 10,000 coccidioidomycosis cases are reported in the U.S. 
each year to the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System 
(NNDSS), but this system captures limited clinical and epidemiological 
information about reported cases. Most cases occur in Arizona or 
California, so the epidemiology of this disease has been well-described 
for these states, but little is known about the features of cases in 
other states.
    Enhanced surveillance in low- and non-endemic states will help 
determine which information is most important to collect during routine 
surveillance and will help assess the suitability of the Council of 
State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) case definition for 
coccidioidomycosis in these areas. Primary prevention strategies for 
coccidioidomycosis have not yet been proven to be effective, so public 
health efforts may be best aimed at promoting awareness of 
coccidioidomycosis among healthcare providers and the general public. 
Improved surveillance data are essential for identifying such 
opportunities to promote awareness about this disease and for 
determining its true public health burden.
    For a period of one year, state health department personnel in 
participating low- and non-endemic states (Louisiana, Michigan, 
Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, 
Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Wyoming) will conduct telephone 
interviews with reported coccidioidomycosis cases that meet the CSTE 
case definition and will record responses on a standardized form. 
Information collected on the form will include demographics, underlying 
medical conditions, travel history, symptom type and duration, 
healthcare-seeking behaviors, diagnosis, treatment, and outcomes.
    This interview activity is consistent with the state's existing 
authority to investigate reports of notifiable diseases for routine 
surveillance purposes; therefore, formal consent to participate in the 
surveillance is not required. However, cases may choose not to 
participate and may choose not to answer any question they do not wish 
to answer.

[[Page 16398]]

    It will take state health department personnel 20 minutes to 
administer the questionnaire and 10 minutes to retrieve and record the 
diagnostic information from their state reportable disease database.
    Participation is voluntary. There are no costs to the respondents 
other than their time. The total burden hours are 73 hours.

                                        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 hrs.)       (in hrs.)
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State Health Department         Case Report Form             145               1           30/60              73
 Personnel.                      for
                                 Coccidioidomyco
                                 sis (Valley
                                 Fever) Enhanced
                                 Surveillance.
                               ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.....................  ................  ..............  ..............  ..............              73
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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. 2015-07036 Filed 3-26-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4163-18-P
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