title: Traditional and syndromic surveillance of infectious diseases and pathogens.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Infectious diseases remain a major public health problem worldwide. Hence, their surveillance is critical. Currently, many surveillance strategies and systems are in use around the world. An inventory of the data, surveillance strategies, and surveillance systems developed worldwide for the surveillance of infectious diseases is presented herein, with emphasis on the role of the microbiology laboratory in surveillance.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data, strategies, and systems used around the world for the surveillance of infectious diseases and pathogens, along with current issues and trends, were reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twelve major classes of data were identified on the basis of their timing relative to infection, resources available, and type of surveillance. Two primary strategies were compared: disease-specific surveillance and syndromic surveillance. Finally, 262 systems implemented worldwide for the surveillance of infections were registered and briefly described, with a focus on those based on microbiological data from laboratories.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is currently a wealth of available data on infections, which has been growing with the recent emergence of new technologies. Concurrently with the expansion of computer resources and networks, these data will allow the optimization of real-time detection and notification of infections.
authors.affiliation: Aix-Marseille Université, URMITE UM 63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1905, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, 27 boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Cédric
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Abat
authors.affiliation: Aix Marseille Université, SESSTIM UMR 912 INSERM, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chaudet
authors.affiliation: Aix-Marseille Université, URMITE UM 63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1905, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, 27 boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rolain
authors.affiliation: Aix-Marseille Université, URMITE UM 63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1905, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, 27 boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Colson
authors.affiliation: Aix-Marseille Université, URMITE UM 63 CNRS 7278 IRD 198 INSERM U1905, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, 27 boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385 Marseille Cedex 05, France. Electronic address: didier.raoult@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Raoult
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D062665:Epidemiological Monitoring; D006801:Humans; D011159:Population Surveillance; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance
keywords: Clinical microbiology laboratories; Epidemiology; Infectious diseases; Surveillance