Foodborne disease outbreak surveillance

Surveillance is a systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of data essential to the planning, implementation and evaluation of public health practice and the timely dissemination of this information for public health action.

At the government level, surveillance is essential for rapid detection of a foodborne disease outbreak. CDC created the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance Systems in 1973 to collect data about cases of foodborne disease that are contracted by two or more patients as a result of ingesting a common food.

Ideally surveillance systems detect small clusters of illness rapidly. There are two types of surveillance, active and passive.

In passive surveillance, in order for a disease outbreak to get noticed by the CDC or health department, a chain of events must occur:
*Exposure of the general public
*Person becomes ill
*Person seeks medical attention
*Specimen is obtained
*Laboratory test for the organism
*Laboratory confirms the case
*Report to Health Department/CDC

The data help focus public health actions intended to reduce illnesses and deaths caused by foodborne disease outbreaks.

Traditional foodborne disease outbreak surveillance systems utilize passive surveillance systems to detect suspicious clusters of foodborne illnesses or outbreaks. Yet only 8% of symptomatic persons seek medical care and only a small proportion of these seeking care diagnostic testing to determine an etiology for their illness.
Foodborne disease outbreak surveillance