Bioterrorism and Surveillance for Infectious Diseases - Lessons from Poliovirus and Enteric Virus Surveillance

Abstract

Early recognition and rapid response are crucial for control of infectious diseases introduced by bio-error, bio-terror or Mother Nature. Early recognition requires surveillance. Surveillance includes methods for identifying the presence of infectious agents or the symptoms caused by the presence of such agents. Overlapping of different surveillance strategies improves the chances for success. Results from enteric virus surveillance of acute viral gastroenteritis in sentinel children wards and outbreaks and environmental surveillance for polio and non-polio enteroviruses in Israel are presented to exemplify surveillance for infectious disease agents and for use as yardsticks for evaluating response to intervention and to introduction of new vaccination programs and for their potential for evaluating acute gastroenteris syndromic surveillance.