Acute Enteric Disease

Acute Enteric Disease Surveillance

The ICDC conducts routine surveillance of acute enteric illness in Israel.
Surveillance is carried out by the Infectious Diseases Unit and the Laboratories Unit of the ICDC.
The surveillance of acute enteric illness is based on a number of clinical and laboratory surveillance activities, as follows:

Laboratory-based Surveillance based on the Sentinel Laboratory Surveillance Network of 8 sentinel community and hospital microbiological laboratories located throughout Israel, and the National Reference Laboratory of the Ministry of Health in Jerusalem.

Data on Salmonella, Shigella and Campylobacter isolates detected at the sentinel laboratories as well as demographic information of patients are reported to the ICDC. In parallel, isolates are sent to the National Reference Centers of the Ministry of Health for confirmation and characterization. All data are integrated into the ICDC database and analysed by the Laboratory Unit of the ICDC.

The aims of the Sentinel Laboratory-based surveillance include the identification of rapid changes in the number of Shigella, Salmonella and Campylobacter isolated at the sentinel labs and in the relative distribution of serogroups, serotypes, phagetypes, and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns; and the study of the associations with environmental and host factors.

Clinical surveillance based on the collection and analysis of data on patient visits to community clinics of the two largest HMO's (Maccabi and Clalit) and hospital emergency rooms throughout Israel, due to acute enteric illness.
HMO laboratory surveillance based on reports of acute enteric illness associated with Salmonella, Shigella and Campylobacter bacteria and the Rota virus, from the central laboratory of Maccabi Health Services.

Surveillance reports

Data based on the Sentinel Laboratory Surveillance Network are analysed by the staff of the Laboratories Unit of the ICDC, who prepare a detailed, quarterly surveillance report (in Hebrew) which is published on the ICDC website.
The clinical and HMO-laboratory data are analysed and summarized by the Infectious Diseases Unit, in weekly reports (in Hebrew) which are published on the website of the ICDC.