EU-IBIS - Invasive bacterial infections surveillance in European Union
- EC contribution
- : € 665.877
- Duration
- : 36 months
- Starting date
- : 02/10/2003
- Funding scheme
- : Health project
- Keywords
- : communicable diseases, epidemiology, meningococcal disease, Haemophilus influenzae, conjugate vaccine, vaccination policy, Europe
- Contract/Grant agreement number
- : 2003202
- Project web-site
- : http://www.euibis.org/
Background:
Standardisation of epidemiological and laboratory methodologies across the EU allows valid overviews and comparisons to be drawn on the epidemiology of invasive Haemophilus influenzae (H. influenzae) and Neisseria meningitidis (N. meningitidis) diseases. These two diseases are both rare, and the EU-IBIS project allowed the pooling of data to increase the power of an epidemiological analysis.
Problem:
The bacteria Neisseria meningitidis and Haemophilus influenzae are an important cause of invasive disease, including meningitis, septicaemia and epiglottitis, across Europe. These bacterial infections contribute to morbidity and mortality, particularly in young children, and represent an important public health problem.Surveillance of these diseases is vital so that the epidemiology of these infections can be characterised and the impact of vaccination programmes can be measured. Since these diseases are relatively uncommon (particularly after vaccination has been introduced) pooling data across many European countries will increase the power of any epidemiological analysis.
Aim:
The objectives are as follows:
- To improve the epidemiological information on invasive meningococcal and Haemophilus influenzae disease within the European Union.
- To improve the laboratory capacity to accurately characterise the isolates of H influenzae and Neisseria meningitidis.
- To evaluate the impact of vaccination with conjugate vaccines on the epidemiology of H influenzae and N meningitidis.
- To compare the impact of vaccination with conjugate vaccines produced by different manufacturers and according to different schedules.
- To form a focus for wider collaboration with non European Union countries and candidate European Union countries.
Expected and obtained results:
The EU-IBIS network contributes to strengthening disease specific surveillance in the European Union. Through use of standard EU case definitions and an agreed minimum dataset, the comparability of surveillance data allows valid comparisons to be drawn across the EU. Improved laboratory capacity for diagnosis and characterisation of circulating organisms will also contribute to making valid comparisons between countries possible, and will enable accurate reporting on emerging strains, or rapid reporting. A number of countries with unreconciled datasets will be encouraged to work towards full reconciliation of their clinical and laboratory data. This will improve the data contributed to EU-IBIS, but will also have beneficial value to the individual countries.
Improvements in surveillance data have already occurred within EU-IBIS participant countries, and will continue to be seen, especially in Accession Countries. Successful design and implementation of vaccine policy, for either of Hib vaccine or MenC vaccine, requires good surveillance data. Likewise, the measurement of the impact of various vaccines and vaccine policies is reliant on good quality data from within the EU, as pooling of this data is needed to give power to the analyses. Such analyses could guide improved design of the appropriate vaccine strategy.
The standardised epidemiological and microbiological data gathered by EU-IBIS give the ability to detect whether changes in disease epidemiology are driven by environmental factors or vaccine impact. Equally, EU-IBIS network enables a concerted response to such changes with appropriate surveillance strategies or public health interventions. This was demonstrated by the establishment of two short-term N meningitidis rapid reporting systems over the lifetime of the project; a sentinel W135 reporting system following the Hajj 2000 outbreak, and a B:2a/B:2b rapid reporting system to identify instances of capsule switching following the introduction of meningococcal C vaccine.
Attainment of standardised, quality surveillance data for H influenzae and N menigitidis throughout the EU provides a platform for other studies of meningococcal disease and H influenzae. This has already been seen in the EU-MenNet-EU-IBIS collaboration.
Potential applications:
This project will allow the more rational development of vaccine policy in Europe and ensure that this policy is evidence based. Hib disease in vaccinated children is extremely rare and meningococcal group C conjugate vaccine failures are also expected to be rare. Pooling of data on vaccine failures at European level is the only reliable means of describing potential risk factors.
Rapid dissemination of changes in the epidemiology of an infection which may have public health significance is possible through the established EU-IBIS network. The standards set by EU-IBIS for the epidemiological surveillance and for methods used in reference laboratories provide models of good practice from which member states, candidate EU and non-EU countries can learn. In addition, establishment of this network may facilitate early dissemination of advances in therapy and in public health control measures and lead to harmonisation of guidance on meningococcal disease.
Coordinator:
HPC Centre for Infections
Immunisation Department
61 Colindale Avenue
London, England, UK
Tel: +44.208327.7085
Fax: +44.208200.7868
Mary.ramsay@hpa.org.uk; eu-ibis@hpa.org.uk
Partners:
Please note that the complete Partners names and addresses are available on the project website (www.euibis.org).
Federal Ministry for Health, Family and Youth,
Austria
Dr Sigrid Heuberger
Austrian Agency for Food and Health Safety,
Austria
Dr Germaine Hanquet
Louis Pasteur,
Belgium
Mrs Françoise Carion
Scientific Institute of Public Health,
Belgium
Dr Pavla Krizova and Dr Vera Lebedova
National Institute of Public Health,
Czech Republic
Dr Kåre Mølbak, Dr Jens Jørgen Christensen, Dr Margit S. Kaltoft
Statens Serum Institut,
Denmark
Dr Mary Slack and Dr Mary Ramsay
Health Protection Agency, England,
UK
Prof. Andrew Fox
Health Protection Agency North West Laboratory,
England, UK
Dr Kuulo Kutsar and Dr Unna Jöks
Health Protection Inspectorate,
Estonia
Dr Petri Ruutu, Helena Käyhty, Maija Leinonen
National Public Health Institute,
Finland
Dr Isabelle Parent du Châtelet and Dr Agnès Lepoutre
Institut de Veille Sanitaire,
France
Dr Muhamed-Khier Taha
Institut Pasteur,
France
Dr Walter Hass
Dep Infecktions Epidemiologie,
Germany
Prof. Dr Matthias Frosch and Dr Ulrich Vogel
Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology,
Germany
Prof. Jenny Kourea-Kremastinou and Dr Georgina Tzanakaki
National School of Public Health,
Greece
Dr Miklós Füzi
Johan Bela National Centre for Epidemiology,
Hungary
Dr Thorolfur Gudnason
Centre for Infectious Disease Control,
Iceland
Dr Hjordis Hardottoir
Institute of Laboratory Medicine,
Iceland
Dr Suzanne Cotter
Health Protection Surveillance Centre,
Ireland
Prof. Mary Cafferkey
Children's University Hospital,
Ireland
Dr Stefania Salmaso, Dr Paola Mastrantonio, Dr Marta Ciofi degli Atti, Dr Marina Cerquetti
Istituto Superiore di Sanità,
Italy
Dr Irina Lucenko
Public Health Agency,
Latvia
Dr Grazina Rimseliene
Centre for Communicable Disease Prevention and Control,
Lithuania
Dr Pierrette Huberty-Krau
Inspection Sanitaire,
Luxembourg
Dr François Schneider
Laboratoire National de Santé,
Luxembourg
Dr Jackie Maistre Melillo
Department of Public Health,
Malta
Dr Hester de Melker and Sabine de Greeff
National Institute of Public Health and the Environment,
Netherlands
Dr Øistein Løvoll, Prof. Dominique A. Caugant, Dr Arne E. Hoiby
Norwegian Institute of Public Health,
Norway
Prof. Andrzej Zielinski
National Institute of Hygiene,
Poland
Prof. Waleria Hryniewicz and Dr Anna Skoczynska
National Institute of Public Health,
Poland
Dr Laurinda Queirós
Centro Regional de Saúde Pública de Norte,
Portugal
Dr Maria João Simões and Dr Paula Lavado
Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr Ricardo Jorge,
Portugal
Ms Barbara Denham
Stobhill Hospital, Scotland,
UK
Dr Margareta Sláčiková and Dr Alena Vaculiková
Public Health Authority of the Slovak Republic,
Slovakia
Dr Alenka Kraigher and Dr Metka Paragi<br /> Institute of Public Health Slovenia,
Slovenia
Dr Rosa Cano Portero, Dr Julio Vazquez, Dr Jose Campos
Instituto de Salud Carlos III,
Spain
Dr Rose-Marie Carlsson, Prof. Birgitta Henriques Normark, Margareta Löfdahl
Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control,
Sweden
Prof. Per Olcén and Prof. Hans Fredlund
National Reference Laboratory for Pathogenic Neisseria,
Sweden
Dr A. Philip Zucs and Dr Hans-Peter Zimmermann
Swiss Federal Office of Public Health,
Switzerland
Dr Béatrice Ninet
Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève,
Switzerland
Dr Peter McIntyre
Children's Hospital at Westmead and University of Sydney,
Australia
Prof. Lyn Gilbert
ICPMR, Westmead Hospital,
Australia
Prof. Geoff Hogg
University of Melbourne,
Australia
Dr Françoise Crokaert
Institut Jules Bordet,
Belgium
Prof. Henri Dabernat
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse,
France
Dr Anette Siedler
Robert Koch Institute,
Germany
Prof. Dr Med Heinz-J. Schmitt and Dr Britta Gröndahl
Johannes Gutenberg-Universitat,
Germany
Prof. Marie Theodoridou and Dr Anastasia Pangalis
'Aghia Sophia' General Children's Hospital,
Greece
Prof. Ron Dagan
Soroko University Medical Centre
Snieguole Dauksiene
National Public Health Investigation Centre,
Lithuania
Dr Lodewijk Spanjaard and Dr Arie van der Ende
Academic Medical Centre,
Netherlands
Dr Claire Cameron and Fiona Johnston
Health Protection Scotland,
Scotland,
UK
Dr Elena Nováková
Regional Public Health Authority,
Slovakia