Imported infections: What information should be collected by surveillance systems to inform public health policy?

Abstract

Background International travel carries the risk of imported diseases, which are an increasingly significant public health problem. There is little guidance about which variables should be collected by surveillance systems for strategy-based surveillance. Methods Surveillance forms for dengue, malaria, hepatitis A, typhoid and measles were collected from Australia and New Zealand and information on these compared with national surveillance forms from the UK and Canada by travel health experts. Variables were categorised by information relating to recent travel, demographics and disease severity. Results Travel-related information most commonly requested included country of travel, vaccinatio..