WHO Global Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease and Rotavirus and Pediatric Diarrhea Surveillance Networks Bulletin
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Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to share the latest bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO)-coordinated Global Rotavirus and Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease (IB-VPD) Surveillance Networks. This edition reports global surveillance data reported to WHO on pediatric diarrhea, meningitis, and pneumonia from the calendar year of 2018. In this edition, we will also report on bacteriology laboratory capacity trainings, which support much of the surveillance work reported here.
Each year, we are grateful to all of the people globally who make this possible, from staff at sentinel surveillance hospitals, to country, regional, and global partners, to funding agencies, all of whom recognize the ongoing importance of surveillance for vaccine-preventable diseases. This bulletin would not be possible without you.
If you have questions or feedback, or would like to join the surveillance networks, please contact us using the link at the bottom.
Warmest regards,
The WHO Global Rotavirus and IB-VPD Surveillance Team
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Global Rotavirus Surveillance Network
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In 2018, the WHO Global Rotavirus Surveillance Network had data reported from 54 Member States.
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Figure 1: WHO Member States that reported data to the Global Rotavirus Surveillance Network, 2018
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Graph 1. Rotavirus positivity among samples tested from children <5 years of age enrolled in the Global Rotavirus Surveillance Network and meeting the case definition for acute gastroenteritis, by WHO Region, 2018*
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Graph 2. Rotavirus positivity among samples tested from children <5 years of age enrolled in the Global Rotavirus Surveillance Network, by Country, 2018*
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* Graphs 1 & 2 include sites/countries meeting these performance criteria:
- Sentinel sites must report cases for at least 10 months of the year 2018 (including zero reporting, if reported to WHO)
- Countries must report a minimum of 80 cases (all sites combined) in 2018 unless rotavirus vaccine was introduced in the country prior to 2018 (i.e., in 2017 or earlier).
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Global Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network
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In 2018, the WHO Global Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease (IB-VPD) Surveillance Network had data reported from 50 Member States.
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Figure 2: WHO Member States that reported data to the Global Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance Network, 2018
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Graph 3. Number of children <5 years of age enrolled in the Global IB-VPD Surveillance Network meeting the case definition for suspect meningitis, pneumonia and sepsis by WHO Region, 2018
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Graph 4. Distribution of pathogens detected by culture, polymerase chain reaction or rapid diagnostic test in children <5 years of age enrolled in the Global IB-VPD Surveillance Network by Region, 2018**
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Graph 5. Number of pathogens detected by culture, polymerase chain reaction or rapid diagnostic test in children <5 years of age enrolled in the Global IB-VPD Surveillance Network by country, 2018**
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** Graphs 6 & 7 include sites/countries meeting these performance criteria:
- Sentinel sites must report cases for at least 10 months of the year 2018 (including zero reporting, if reported to WHO)
- Tier 1 countries (conducting meningitis surveillance only) and Tier 2 countries (also conducting pneumonia/sepsis surveillance) must report respectively a minimum of 80 and 400 cases (all sites combined) in 2018 unless the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine was introduced in the country prior to 2018 (i.e., in 2017 or earlier).
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Leveraging the WHO IB-VPD Laboratory Network to Build on Diphtheria Diagnostics
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Laboratory training facilitators and participants during the diphtheria laboratory workshop at the Christian Medical College (Vellore, India)
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In June 2019, SEARO and WHO Headquarters organized a regional laboratory training workshop for diphtheria diagnosis at the IB-VPD regional reference laboratory at the Christian Medical College (CMC) in Vellore India. The training was conducted in collaboration with Public Health England, a WHO Collaborating Center for diphtheria and Streptococcus infection, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) diphtheria and pertussis laboratory.
The main objective of the training was to provide participants with theoretical and practical information on epidemiological typing methods for Corynebacterium diphtheriae and other potentially toxigenic Corynebacterium. The scientific program focused on laboratory diagnosis for diphtheria including bacterial culture, screening tests, and molecular methods (PCR). Throughout the week, lectures included diphtheria surveillance, biosafety issues, case studies from diphtheria clinical cases at the CMC hospital, invasive bacterial disease surveillance and laboratory networks, and quality assurance and quality control systems.
The main aim of this hands-on laboratory training was to strengthen the participants’ skills and to build capacity in the laboratory diagnosis of diphtheria. The expected outcome of this workshop was to establish a formal coordinated approach to strengthen diphtheria surveillance. A total of 15 laboratory participants from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, and Timor-Leste attended the training. The facilitators had dedicated time with participants to review and assess their country-level surveillance activities for bacterial vaccine preventable diseases, and they had very interactive discussions. This workshop was a great example of leveraging the WHO IB-VPD laboratory network platform to strengthen other bacterial vaccine preventable disease surveillance.
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Acknowledgements
WHO gratefully acknowledges the dedicated efforts of the numerous individuals and organizations involved with compiling this surveillance information, including Ministries of Health, sentinel hospitals, as well as the network of global, regional and national reference laboratories. WHO also gratefully acknowledges the financial support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, that is provided to eligible countries and additional support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
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Please contact us at vpdata@who.int or reply to this email for questions and feedback on the bulletin. Feel free to share with colleagues, friends and on social media!
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