LEGIONELLA - World Health Organization

9.2 International surveillance of legionellosis
National bulletins on public health, published weekly, are important vehicles for disseminating
surveillance updates, outbreak reports and notification data from individual countries. Useful
publications include:
• Communicable Disease Report — published by the Health Protection Agency in England
and Wales 14
• Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports — published by the Centers for Disease Control
in the United States of America 15
• Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 16
However, interpretation and comparison of surveillance data from different countries can be
problematic because of differences in case definitions, types of surveillance system (e.g. national,
sentinel, state-funded and private health care) and the types of data collected from cases. The
opportunity to carry out international surveillance using consistent definitions and reporting
procedures was presented in 1987, when the European Working Group for Legionella
Infections (EWGLI) established the European Surveillance Scheme for Travel Associated
Legionnaires’ Disease (EWGLINET 17 ; see Box 9.3).
Box . European Work ng Group for Legionella Infect ons
Since 1993, member countries of EWGLI have submitted annual data to the group by
completing a set of standardized reporting forms. These data supplement those provided
to EWGLINET, and include the following information on Legionella infections:
• annual total cases
• sex group
• numbers of cases, categorized by the exposure group
• main methods used for diagnosis
• species and serogroups of Legionella isolates.
14 http://www.hpa.org.uk/cdr/
15 http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/
16 http://www.who.int/bulletin/en/
17 http://www.ewgli.org
LEGIONELLA AND THE PREVENTION OF LEGIONELLOSIS