title: Imported infections: What information should be collected by surveillance systems to inform public health policy?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  International travel carries the risk of imported diseases, which are an increasingly significant public health problem. There is little guidance about which variables should be collected by surveillance systems for strategy-based surveillance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Surveillance forms for dengue, malaria, hepatitis A, typhoid and measles were collected from Australia and New Zealand and information on these compared with national surveillance forms from the UK and Canada by travel health experts. Variables were categorised by information relating to recent travel, demographics and disease severity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Travel-related information most commonly requested included country of travel, vaccination status and travel dates. In Australia, ethnicity information requested related to indigenous status, whilst in New Zealand it could be linked to census categories. Severity of disease information most frequently collected were hospitalisation and death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Reviewing the usefulness of variables collected resulted in the recommendation that those included should be: overseas travel, reason for travel, entry and departure dates during the incubation period, vaccination details, traveller's and/or parents' country of birth, country of usual residence, time resident in current country, postcode, hospitalisation and death details. There was no agreement about whether ethnicity details should be collected. The inclusion of these variables on surveillance forms could enable imported infection-related policy to be formulated nationally and internationally.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Psychosocial Studies, Auckland University of Technology, 90, Akoranga Drive, Northcote, Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: pneave@aut.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Penny E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Neave
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Kensington, New South Wales, Australia. Electronic address: a.heywood@unsw.ac.au.
authors.forename: Anita E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Heywood
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, The Alfred Centre, Monash University, Commercial Road, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: Katherine.gibney@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Katherine B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Gibney
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, The Alfred Centre, Monash University, Commercial Road, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Electronic address: Karin.leder@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Leder
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D005260:Female; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006506:Hepatitis A / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D062486:Public Health Surveillance; D014195:Travel; D014435:Typhoid Fever / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology; D014611:Vaccination
keywords: Imported infections; Policy; Public health; Surveillance