Journal of Public Health Advance Access originally published online on December 17, 2007
Journal of Public Health 2008 30(1):82-90; doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdm080
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Data quality of 5 years of central norovirus outbreak reporting in the European Network for food-borne viruses
A. Kroneman, Researcher1,
J. Harris, Epidemiologist2
H. Vennema, Virologist1
E. Duizer, Virologist1
Y. van Duynhoven, Epidemiologist1
J. Gray, Virologist2
M. Iturriza, Virologist2
B. Böttiger, Clinical Virologist3
G. Falkenhorst, Epidemiologist3
C. Johnsen, Virologist3
C.-H. von Bonsdorff, Virologist4
L. Maunula, Virologist4
M. Kuusi, Epidemiologist5
P. Pothier, Virologist6
A. Gallay, Epidemiologist7
E. Schreier, Virologist8
J. Koch, Epidemiologist8
G. Szücs, Head of the Regional Laboratory of Virology9
G. Reuter, Virologist9
K. Krisztalovics, Epidemiologist10
M. Lynch, Consultant Microbiologist11
P. McKeown, Consultant Medical Epidemiologist12
B. Foley, Surveillance Scientist12
S. Coughlan, Senior Clinical Scientist13
F. M. Ruggeri, Head Virology14
I. Di Bartolo, Virology14
K. Vainio, Virologist15
E. Isakbaeva, Epidemiologist15
M. Poljsak-Prijatelj, Virologist16
A. Hocevar Grom, Epidemiologist17
A. Bosch, Head Enteric Viruses Department18
J. Buesa, Microbiologist19
A. Sanchez Fauquier, Epidemiologist20
G. Hernandéz-Pezzi, Head of Epidemiology Department20
K.-O. Hedlund, Virologist21
M. Koopmans, Professor of Virology, Head of Virology Department1
1 National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Center for Infectious Disease Control, Postbus 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, The Netherlands
2 Health Protection Agency, Centre for Infections, London, UK
3 Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark
4 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
5 National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland
6 University of Dijon, Dijon, France
7 Institut de Veille Sanitaire, St Maurice, France
8 Robert Koch Institut, Berlin, Germany
9 State Public Health Service, Pecs, Hungary
10 National Center for Epidemiology, Budapest, Hungary
11 Mater Misericordiae Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
12 Health Protection Surveillance Centre, Dublin, Ireland
13 National Virus Reference Laboratory, Dublin, Ireland
14 Instituto Superiore di Sanita, Rome, Italy
15 Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
16 University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
17 Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia
18 University of Barcelona, Spain
19 University of Valencia, Spain
20 Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
21 Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control, Solna, Sweden
Address correspondence to A. Kroneman, E-mail: annelies.kroneman{at}rivm.nl
 |
Abstract |
|---|
Background The food-borne viruses in Europe (FBVE) network database was established in 1999 to monitor trends in outbreaks of gastroenteritis due to noroviruses (NoVs), to identify major transmission routes of NoV infections within and between participating countries and to detect diffuse international food-borne outbreaks.
Methods We reviewed the total of 9430 NoV outbreak reports from 13 countries with date of onset between 1 January 2002 and 1 January 2007 for representativeness, completeness and timeliness against these objectives.
Results Rates of reporting ranged from a yearly average of 1.8 in 2003 to 11.6 in 2006. Completeness of reporting of an agreed minimum dataset improved over the years, both for epidemiological and virological data. For the 10 countries that provided integrated (epidemiological AND virological) reporting over the 5-year period, the completeness of the minimum dataset rose from 15% in 2003 to 48% in 2006. Two countries have not been able to combine both data types due to the structure of the national surveillance system (England and Wales and Germany). Timeliness of reporting (median days between the onset of an outbreak and the date of reporting to the FBVE database) differed greatly between countries, but gradually improved to 47 days in 2006.
Conclusion The outbreaks reported to the FBVE reflect the lack of standardization of surveillance systems across Europe, making direct comparison of data between countries difficult. However, trends in reported outbreaks per country, distribution of NoV genotypes, and detection of diffuse international outbreaks were used as background data in acute questions about NoV illness and the changing genotype distribution during the 5-year period, shown to be of added value. Integrated reporting is essential for these objectives, but could be limited to sentinel countries with surveillance systems that allow this integration. For successful intervention in case of diffuse international outbreaks, completeness and timeliness of reporting would need to be improved and expanded to countries that presently do not participate.
Keywords: Epidemiology, Food safety, Public health