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.

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 information collection plan entitled “Generic Clearance for Lyme and other Tickborne Diseases Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Surveys.” CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD), National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Diseases (NCEZID) will use the plan to conduct survey development, pre-testing activities, and survey administration actions in 2016-2018. The data collection for which approval is sought will allow DVBD to use survey results to inform implementation of future TBD prevention interventions.

DATES:

Written comments must be received on or before August 8, 2016.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by Docket No. CDC-2016-0051 by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Regulations.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

Generic Clearance for Lyme and other Tickborne Diseases Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Surveys—New—National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Background and Brief Description

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD) and other programs working on tickborne diseases (TBDs) is requesting a three year approval for a generic clearance to conduct TBD prevention studies to include include knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) surveys regarding ticks and tickborne diseases (TBDs) among residents and businesses offering pest control services in Lyme disease endemic areas of the United States. The data collection for which approval is sought will allow DVBD to use survey results to inform implementation of future TBD prevention interventions.

TBDs are a substantial and growing public health problem in the United States. From 2009-2014, over 200,000 cases of TBDs were reported to CDC, including cases of anaplasmosis, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and tularemia (CDC, 2010, 2013). Lyme disease leads in number of cases with over 33,000 confirmed and probable cases reported in 2014. In addition, several novel tickborne pathogens have recently been found to cause human disease in the United States.

Factors driving the emergence of TBDs are not well defined and current prevention methods have been insufficient to curb the increase in cases. Data is lacking on how often certain prevention measures are used by individuals at risk as well as what the barriers to using certain prevention measure are.

The primary target population for these data collections are individuals and their household members who are at risk for TBDs associated with I. scapularis ticks and who may be exposed to these ticks residentially, recreationally, and/or occupationally. The secondary target population includes owners and employees of businesses offering pest control services to residents in areas where I. scapularis ticks transmit diseases to humans. Specifically, these target populations include those residing or working in the 14 highest incidence states for Lyme disease (CT, DE, ME, MD, MA, MN, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT, VA, WI). We anticipate conducting one to two surveys per year, for a maximum of six surveys conducted over a three year period. Depending on the survey, we aim to enroll 500-10,000 participants per study. It is expected that we will need to target recruitment to about twice as many people as we intend to enroll.

Surveys may be conducted daily, weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly per participant for a defined period of time (whether by phone or web survey), depending on the survey or study. The surveys will range in duration from approximately 5-30 minutes. Each participant may be surveyed 1-64 times in one year; this variance is due to differences in the type of information collected for a given survey.

Specific burden estimates for each study and each information collection instrument will be provided with each individual project submission for OMB review. The maximum estimated, annualized burden hours are 98,833 hours. There is no cost to respondents other than their time.

Insights gained from KAP surveys will aid in prioritizing which prevention methods should be evaluated in future randomized, controlled trials and ultimately help target promotion of proven prevention methods that could yield substantial reductions in TBD incidence.