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SurvNet electronic surveillance system for infectious disease outbreaks, Germany

Gérard Krause1, Doris Altmann, Daniel Faensen

  • 1Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Robert Koch Institute, Seestrasse 10, 13353 Berlin, Germany. krauseg@rki.de

Emerging Infectious Diseases
|February 9, 2008
PubMed

Insights

Germany's electronic disease surveillance system, SurvNet, captured over 30,000 outbreaks from 2001-2005. This system efficiently tracks infectious disease outbreaks in various settings, including households and healthcare facilities.

Area of Science:

  • Public Health
  • Epidemiology
  • Infectious Disease Surveillance

Background:

  • The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Germany introduced an electronic surveillance system, SurvNet, in 2001.
  • This system aimed to improve the tracking of infectious disease outbreaks across the country.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate the effectiveness and utility of the SurvNet system in capturing and reporting infectious disease outbreaks.
  • To analyze the characteristics of outbreaks reported through SurvNet between 2001 and 2005.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized data from the SurvNet electronic surveillance system, covering reports from 2001 to 2005.
  • Analyzed outbreak characteristics including size, duration, common settings, and time from notification to reporting.

Main Results:

  • SurvNet recorded 30,578 outbreak reports between 2001 and 2005, with outbreak sizes varying significantly.
  • Median reporting time was 7 days; median outbreak durations ranged from 1 day (Campylobacter) to 73 days (Mycobacterium tuberculosis).
  • Households, nursing homes, and hospitals were the most frequent outbreak settings in 2004-2005.

Conclusions:

  • SurvNet effectively captures a large volume of infectious disease outbreak data.
  • The system streamlines reporting for local health departments and identifies outbreaks even without identified pathogens.
  • SurvNet serves as a valuable model for other national and international outbreak surveillance systems.

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