Neisseria meningitidis - Eurosurveillance

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ECDC starts pilot phase for collection of molecular
typing data
I van Walle (ivo.van.walle@ecdc.europa.eu) 1
1. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Stockholm, Sweden
Citation style for this article:
van Walle I. ECDC starts pilot phase for collection of molecular typing data. Euro Surveill. 2013;18(3):pii=20357. Available online: http://www.eurosurveillance.org/
ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20357
The European Surveillance System (TESSy) molecular
surveillance service (MSS) was launched in late
November 2012. This new service enables European
Union and European Economic Area countries to upload
detailed molecular typing data for Salmonella, Listeria,
E. coli (VTEC/STEC) and multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis
(MDR-TB) to the MSS database, hosted by the
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
(ECDC). So far, 13 countries are providing data for the
three food and waterborne pathogens, and it is likely
that more countries will join the system in 2013. For
M. tuberculosis, 23 countries are currently providing
molecular typing data. It is likely that in the future,
more pathogens will be added to the MSS.
The objective of the data is to (i) improve the speed
of detection of dispersed international outbreaks, (ii)
improve trace-back of the source of an outbreak and
Article published on 17 January 2013
identify risk factors, and (iii) improve investigation of
transmission chains across the EU and globally, and
(iv) improve Member State response to outbreaks.
Nominated users in countries can query ECDC databases
to see if isolates that are genetically similar to
isolates found in their country have been detected in
other countries. A team of curators guarantees the
quality of the data and also performs routine cluster
detection. If a cluster is found, countries can then
use this cluster information for possible public health
action. In such cases, the ECDC Epidemic Intelligence
Information System will be used as before to help coordinate
action across countries for Salmonella, Listeria
and E. coli whereas the European Reference Laboratory
Network for TB would be used in the case of MDR-TB.
An evaluation of the pilot phase is planned for the end
of 2013.
118 www.eurosurveillance.org