Infokiri

To: National Focal Points for Food- and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses

Cc: National Coordinators, FWD Coordination Committee

Dear colleagues,

On behalf of Ettore Amato at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, FHI, in Norway, we kindly invite the NFPs for FWD to participate in a survey on surveillance systems for non-cholera Vibrio and Shewanella infections in EU/EEA countries. If you are unable to answer the survey, please forward it to a colleague who has knowledge of non-cholera Vibrio and Shewanella surveillance in your country. Please note that data will be collected at national level, and only one response per country will be considered. Currently, these infections are not under mandatory EU-wide surveillance.

A preliminary survey conducted in 2019 provided an initial overview of the existing surveillance systems. Five years later, we are conducting a new survey as an EPIET project under the ECDC fellowship programme to get an updated overview. Your input is highly valued and will contribute to understanding the status of surveillance for these infections in Member States, particularly in the context of climate change and climate-sensitive infectious diseases.

The collected data will be useful to ECDC and to Member States where an assessment on a future introduction of such surveillance systems is planned, or for possible harmonization of EU case definitions.

To participate, please complete the online questionnaire by 31^st January 2025 (estimated time 10-15 mins). You can access the survey here: https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/e4c77b57-08f1-646d-5409-5e291ec67b5b

If you have any questions or need further clarification, please contact Ettore Amato (ettore.amato@fhi.no) or EPIET fellow Arthur Rakover (arthur.rakover@fhi.no).

The survey results will be shared with the NFPs for FWD. A scientific publication in Eurosurveillance is being considered, with NFPs and network members as co-authors where applicable.

Thank you for your time and contribution!                                                                                                                                                                            

Best regards,

ECDC FWD team