The World Health Organization (WHO) trained health workers in surveillance for Invasive Bacterial Vaccine-Preventable Diseases (IB-VPD). The trainers included Professor Mary Slack, WHO Consultant, Ms Jill Murray, WHO Consultant, Mr. Reggis Katsande and Mr. Sarathiel Chaipa, AFRO Regional Office, Harare.  This is under the WHO-supported programme of surveillance for IB-VPD, a hospital-based sentinel surveillance network that seeks to gather high quality standardized data on severe invasive infections caused by selected pathogens.

Mulago National Referral Hospital (NRHH) was selected to join three other hospitals in the global network that includes India, Bangladesh, Ghana, to pilot enteric fever and invasive non-typhoidal salmonella infection surveillance within the invasive bacterial meningitis surveillance. The trainees included the core surveillance team from NRHH, health workers and other national level members from Central Public Health Laboratory, Uganda National Extended Program on Immunization, WHO Uganda Country Office and Epidemiological Surveillance Division.

The pilot phase will have health workers assess the feasibility and reliability of integrating surveillance for enteric fever and Invasive non-Typhoidal Salmonellosis (iNTS) in the IB-VPD surveillance network. Furthermore, the epidemiologic data collected during the pilot phase will support country-level decisions on conjugate typhoid vaccine use. From the pilot, health workers will also monitor trends in antimicrobial resistance. The pilot will also provide a baseline for future assessments of vaccine impact. While the short-term focus is on infections due to S. Typhi as noted above, the pilot will also include surveillance of S. Paratyphi and other invasive Salmonella infections. 

The surveillance for typhoid and paratyphoid fever or other invasive Salmonella infections in children aged 0 months to 15 years will also gather data that will equip policy makers with information to decide on vaccine use. It is important to note that baseline epidemiological data on typhoid, for which licensed vaccines are available and introduction of the next generation conjugate vaccines is anticipated, will be critical for decision-making in countries where typhoid fever is endemic.

Enteric fever is caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) and S. Paratyphi A, B or C. iNTS is an invasive infection caused by non-typhoidal serovars. Furthermore, invasive Salmonella infections are responsible for a significant burden of morbidity and mortality worldwide.  An estimated 3.4 million cases of iNTS disease occur annually, with the highest incidence in Africa usually in infants, young children and young adults with underlying comorbidities, including severe anaemia, malaria, malnutrition and HIV-infection in whom the case fatality rate is high.

__________________________________________________

For more information, please contact:

Mwebembezi Edmond, Public Information Officer, Tel.: +256 414 335569, Cell: +256 782 962674, Email:%20mwebembezie [at] who.int ( mwebembezie[at]who[dot]int)