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Abstract

Background

In Finland, surveillance of tularaemia relies on laboratory-confirmed case notifications to the National infectious Diseases Register (NIDR).

Aim

The aim of the study was to assess the suitability and usefulness of clinical surveillance as an addition to laboratory notification to improve tularaemia surveillance in Finland.

Methods

We retrieved NIDR tularaemia surveillance and primary healthcare data on clinically diagnosed tularaemia cases in Finland between 2013 and 2019. We compared incidences, demographic distributions and seasonal trends between the two data sources.

Results

The median annual incidence was 0.6 (range: 0.1–12.7) and 0.8 (range: 0.6–7.2) per 100,000 for NIDR notifications and primary healthcare notifications, respectively. Cases reported to NIDR were slightly older than cases reported to primary healthcare (median: 53 years vs 50 years, p = 0.04), but had similar sex distribution. Seasonal peaks differed between systems, both in magnitude and in timing. On average, primary healthcare notifications peaked 3 weeks before NIDR. However, peaks in NIDR were more pronounced, for example in 2017, monthly incidence per 100,000 of NIDR notifications peaked at 12.7 cases in September, while primary healthcare notifications peaked at 7.2 (1.8 ratio) in August.

Conclusions

Clinically diagnosed cases provide a valuable additional data source for surveillance of tularaemia in Finland. A primary healthcare-based system would allow for earlier detection of increasing incidences and thereby for early warning of outbreaks. This is crucial in order to implement targeted control and prevention measures as early as possible.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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2022-01-27
2024-11-23
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.4.2100098
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Is clinical primary care surveillance for tularaemia a useful addition to laboratory surveillance? An analysis of notification data for Finland, 2013 to 2019
<p class="citation"> <span>Citation style for this article:</span> <span class="meta-value authors"> <a href="/search?value1=Charlotte+C+Hammer&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Hammer Charlotte C</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Timothee+Dub&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Dub Timothee</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Oskari+Luomala&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Luomala Oskari</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Jussi+Sane&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Sane Jussi</a></span>. Is clinical primary care surveillance for tularaemia a useful addition to laboratory surveillance? An analysis of notification data for Finland, 2013 to 2019. <a href="/content/ecdc">Euro Surveill.</a> 2022;27(4):pii=2100098. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.4.2100098" title="doi link" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.4.2100098</a> <span class="ES_Article_citation"> <span class="generated">Received</span>: 22 Jan 2021;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="generated">Accepted</span>: 18 Jun 2021 </span> </p>
/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2022.27.4.2100098
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