Infectious Disease Surveillance - Europe

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These articles were in Eurosurveillance Weekly

New national disease surveillance unit for Ireland

A national disease surveillance unit for Ireland was finally given the green

light in 1998. Dr Darina O’Flanagan took up the post of director in late

October, having moved from the Department of Public Health of the Eastern

Health Board. The unit will concentrate initially on surveillance of

infectious disease but its role will expand to include surveillance of

environmental hazards and other non-infectious diseases.

Priorities for the new unit will be to overhaul the notification system and

infectious disease regulations and to set up structures for the surveillance

of antimicrobial resistance. The new unit will work closely with key partners

already working in the control of communicable disease, including Ireland’s

eight regional departments of public health and environmental health units,

clinical microbiologists, infectious disease physicians, general

practitioners, veterinarians, and its Food Safety Authority and Department of

Health and Children, and will collaborate with the new regional

epidemiological unit in Northern Ireland and with other national institutes in

Europe. Busy times are ahead!

Dr Darina O'Flanagan, (doflanagan@...) The National Disease Surveillance

Unit, (ndsu@...), Sir Dun's Hospital, Lower Grand Canal Street,

Dublin 2, Ireland. Telephone: +353 1 661 7346, Fax: +353 1 661 7347.

Reported by Lelia Thornton (thornton@...), Eastern Health Board,

Dublin, Ireland

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Networks or a Centre for infectious diseases in Europe?

Two letters in the Lancet this week from proponents of a European supra-

national centre for infectious diseases continue the debate on whether

networks of communicable disease specialists or a representative centre are

likely to serve the identification, production, and control of communicable

diseases best. The latest comments suggest that an important role for such a

centre would be to act as a role through which privileged links could be

established with eastern Europe and developing countries (1,2). Many of the

existing European surveillance networks for specific infections, however,

already liaise with many eastern European countries quite successfully.

However this debate concludes, everyone would agree that effective

international prevention and control of infectious diseases is completely

dependent on the quality of national surveillance. Thus the creation of a

national surveillance unit in Ireland (see above) is most welcome.

References:

1.Tibayrenc M. European centre for infectious disease. Lancet 1999; 353: 329.

(http:www.thelancet.com) 2.Sehgal R. European centre for infectious disease.

Lancet 1999; 353: 329. (http:www.thelancet.com)

Reported by Noël Gill (ngill@...), PHLS Communicable Disease

Surveillance Centre, London, England