Surveillance Systems

France hosted 2016 UEFA European Football Championship between June 10 and July 10. In the particular context of several terrorist attacks occurring in France in 2015 [1], the French national public health agency « Santé publique France » (formerly French Institute for Public Health Surveillance-InVS) was mandated by the Ministry of Health to reinforce health population surveillance systems during the UEFA 2016 period. Six French regions and 10 main stadiums hosted 51 matches and several official and nonofficial dedicated Fan Zones were implemented in many cities across national territory. Three types of hazard have been identified in this context: outbreak of contagious infectious disease, environmental exposure and terrorist attack. The objectives of health surveillance of this major sporting event were the same as for an exceptional event including mass gathering [2] : 1/ timely detection of a health event (infectious cluster, environmental pollution, collective foodborne disease…) to investigate and timely implement counter measures (control and prevention), 2/ health impact assessment of an unexpected event. The French national syndromic surveillance system SurSaUD® was one of the main tools for timely health impact assessment in the context of this event.

Objective

To describe the surveillance indicators implemented for the health impact assessment of a potential health event occurring before, during or after the UEFA Euro 2016 football matches in order to timely implement control and prevention measures.

Every year, circulating influenza viruses generate a significant number of deaths. During the 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1), a national non mandatory surveillance system of severe influenza cases admitted to intensive care units(ICU) was set up in France. This surveillance is regionally driven by the regional offices (CIRE) of Santé publique France, the French Public Health Agency. This report provides epidemiologic analysis of the recorded data since the implementation of surveillance in the Centre-Val de Loire region over seasons 2009-10 to 2015-16 in regard of influenza epidemics dynamics.

Objective

The study aimed at: i) analyses the regional characteristics and risk factors of severe influenza, taking into account dominant circulating virus(es) ii) estimate the regional completeness of the surveillance system.

Ukraine’s ability to respond to the spread of viruses that cause pandemics and reduce economic losses from influenza, can be strengthened only in the presence of a developed surveillance network including the monitoring of virus circulation in humans. Specialists of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast have great experience in virological surveillance on the circulation of influenza virus A/California/H1N1 and timely determination of the etiology of outbreaks caused by the virus.

As part of this surveillance study for Avian Influenza both active and passive surveillance samples were tested using PCR and also utilized to validate the LAMP method. Active surveillance samples include pathological material and tracheal and cloacal swabs from ill poultry, which were subsequently assessed for avian influenza during diagnosis, and birds collected by hunters. Passive surveillance included environmental samples such as sand and bird faeces. Active surveillance samples were taken mostly from poultry farms across Ukraine, where infected birds are required to be diagnosed by State Scientific Research Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics and Veterinary Sanitary Expertise (SSRILDVSE) by Ukraine Law. Passive surveillance samples were taken primarily during the annual bird migration season. Development of simple, sensitive, and cheap methods for diagnostics of avian influenza is a very important task for practical veterinary medicine. LAMP is one of such methods. The technique is based on isothermal amplification of nucleic acids. It does not require special conditions and equipment (PCR cyclers), therefore it is cheaper in comparison with PCR. Accurate diagnosis is necessary for determining the risk associated with avian influenza in Ukraine and along the Dnipro River during the migratory season.

Objective

The performance of comparative analysis of sensitivity and results of detection of avian influenza virus by real time polymerase chain reaction (PCR-RT) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification of the nucleic acids (LAMP) was the main goal of the study.

Shootings with multiple victims are a concern for public safety and public health. The precise impact of such events and the trends associated with them is dependent on which events are counted. Some reports only consider events with multiple deaths, typically four or more, while other reports also include events with multiple victims and at least one death. Underreporting is also a concern. Some commonly cited databases for these events are based on media reports of shootings which may or may not capture the complete set of events that meet whatever criteria are being considered. Many gunshot wounds are treated in the emergency department setting. Emergency department registrations routinely collected for syndromic surveillance will capture all of those visits. Analysis of that data may be useful as a supplement to mass shooting databases by identifying unreported events. In addition, clusters of gunshot wound incidents which are not the result of a single shooting event but still represent significant public safety and public health concerns may also be identified.

Objective

To determine whether mass casualty shooting events are captured via syndromic surveillance data.

To immediately monitor disease outbreaks, the application of laboratory-based surveillance is more popular in recent years. Taiwan Centers for Disease Control (TCDC) has developed LARS to collect the laboratory-confirmed cases caused by any of 20 pathogens daily via automated submitting of reports from hospital laboratory information system (LIS) to LARS since 2014 [1]. LOINC is used as standardized format for messaging inspection data [1, 2]. There are 37 hospitals have joined LARS, coverage rate about 59% of all hospitals in Taiwan. Recently, more than 10,000 of data are collected weekly and used in monitoring pathogen activity [3]. Therefore, it is important to ensure data quality that the data will lead to valuable information for public health surveillance.

Objective

To improve data quality and sustain a good quality data collected by Laboratory Automated Reporting System (LARS), we use a Threestage Data Quality Correction (3DQC) strategy to ensure data accuracy.

The DoD provides daily outpatient and emergency room data feeds to the BioSense Platform within NSSP, maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This data includes demographic characteristics and diagnosis codes for health encounter visits of Military Health System beneficiaries, including active duty, active duty family members, retirees, and retiree family members. NSSP functions through collaboration with local, state, and federal public health partners utilizing the BioSense Platform, an electronic health information system.

Objective

The Department of Defense data is available to National Syndromic Surveillance Program (NSSP) users to conduct syndromic surveillance. This report summarizes the demographic characteristics of DoD health encounter visits.

Pakistan ranks 26th in Childhood mortality rates, globally. Pakistan, with other 4 countries is responsible for about half of the deaths of children age under 5. Despite such burden vital registration system is not well established, health facilities are not easily accessible and mostly deaths occur at home, making identification of cause of death (COD) difficult.

Objective

To identify Cause of deaths among children below age of 5years from a prospective cohort of women in one urban and four peri-urban settings of Karachi, Pakistan

In France, the surveillance of GE is performed by several complementary systems including specific and syndromic surveillance systems.

The GP’s emergency associations “SOS Médecins” are part of the French syndromic surveillance system SurSaUD since 2006. SOS Médecins functions as a liberal medical regulation. In 9 years, the network has become almost exhaustive and contribute to the surveillance of seasonal and non-seasonal health events at different geographical scales, in the fields of infectious diseases and environmental health. GE is one of the 50 indicators daily followed by the by the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) syndromic surveillance unit.

Objective

To illustrate the complementarity and added value of the GP’s emergency network “SOS Médecins” through an example of an epidemic of gastroenteritis (GE).