Eurosurveillance - Volume 2, Issue 7, 01 July 1997

The European Commission (EC) has stated that setting up disease surveillance and health monitoring systems that cover the EU is a priority, and has proposed the development of a Community wide network, relying on electronic, computer based communications

The sentinel network of general practitioners in Belgium was set up in 1979 and monitors a wide range of infectious and non-infectious diseases. Such surveillance systems have been tested and found to be effective and are currently applied in several coun

The French sentinel network is composed of general practitioners who record on an ongoing basis cases of seven infectious diseases (i.e. influenza-like illness, acute diarrhoea, chickenpox, mumps, measles, male urethritis, and acute hepatitis of probable

The overall incidence of measles fell markedly in Greece after measles vaccination was introduced (although precise data are not available), but sporadic outbreaks continue to occur. A live monovalent measles vaccine was introduced in Greece in 1965 and r