Evaluation of the Salmonella Surveillance System in Baku Azerbaijan, 2006-2008

Abstract

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.4 million people are infected each year with salmonella in the USA. During the 2006-2008 period, 1,333 cases of salmonella were registered in Azerbaijan, 98% were in children under 14 years. We evaluated the salmonella surveillance system to identify the reliability of existing surveillance data for salmonellosis from Baku, Azerbaijan. We examined the 2006-2008 surveillance data on gastroenteritis notifications from the three children's infectious disease hospitals in Baku, and the three corresponding district Centers of Hygiene and Epidemiology (CHE) and the Republican CHE (RCHE). Assessment of the laboratory Quality system in the hospital laboratories CHE and RCHE laboratories were conducted using the CLSI questioners on 12 quality system essentials. In the 3 Baku hospitals, 1% of 8,669 suspected cases of gastroenteritis were confirmed as salmonella infections. Twelve other pathogens were confirmed in 13 % of cases including Proteus, Escherichia, Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, Citrobacter, Klebsiella, Vibrio, Hafnia and Candida species. In 86% of all suspect cases no pathogens were found and these cases were registered as gastroenteritis of unknown etiology. Analysis of the data shows that of 25,936 primary notifications, 20% were received late (>2days). Among these, 257 (0.99%) were notifications of salmonellosis. Laboratories were found to lack quality system. Case definition for salmonellosis was absent..