Posted: June 15th, 2012 - 12:09pm
Source: EFSA Journal 2012;10(6):2765 [13 pp.]

Abstract
Following a request from EFSA, the Animal Health and Welfare Panel delivered a scientific opinion reviewing the “European Union Summary Report on trends and sources of zoonoses, zoonotic agents and food-borne outbreaks for 2009 and 2010 “ specifically for the data related to bovine tuberculosis, Echinococcus, Q fever, brucellosis and non-food borne diseases. A yearly report of the distribution and other epidemiological characteristics of the zoonoses among the different European Member States is an essential component in assessing the impact of these diseases and their potential preventive measures. These yearly reports however should not be considered as information on the current disease situation since it become is only available 12 months after the year of interest, and this point. The reports do not always clearly identify the reference population, the data sources, and data collection approaches (surveillance methodology) used for the various diseases, there is a need to consider these three essential elements in order to make appropriate inferences. Limited data analyses were included in the reports although it was recognized that the nature of the data and the collection systems may preclude subsequent data analysis. Statistical methods, such as trend analysis, should be presented as part of the introduction and the data analysis. The reports contain several statements to indicate statistical significance and the statistical method used should be specified in the text. It was noticed that the 2010 Report has improved in its presentation in comparison to 2009 report. The 2010 Report included more details of parasitic zoonoses than the 2009 Report. These results, however, are not linked to further interpretation e.g. the potential reasons for any decrease or increase. It was recommended that the AHAW and BIOHAZ Panels should be consulted (e.g. as part of their annual mandate) before the Report is released to the public.
Summary
Following a request from EFSA, the Animal Health and Welfare Panel was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on review of the “European Union Summary Report on trends and sources of zoonoses, zoonotic agents and food-borne outbreaks for 2009 and 2010 “ specifically for the data related to bovine tuberculosis, Echinococcus, Q fever, brucellosis and non-food borne diseases. This opinion should be reviewed in conjunction with the European Union Summary Report on trends and sources of zoonoses, zoonotic agents and food-borne outbreaks in 2009 and 2010. Further terms of reference (2 to 6) associated with this mandate, on the relevance of the data, its source, availability analysis and presentations as well as available analytical tools for aggregated data will be addressed in a separate opinion.
The panel provided general and disease specific comments and recommendations. The conclusions and recommendation to specific sections of these two reports that were identified should be considered for the improvement of the future reports as relevant to these sections.
A yearly report of the distribution and other epidemiological characteristics of the zoonoses among the different European Member States is an essential component in assessing the impact of these diseases and their potential preventive measures. These yearly reports however should not be considered as information on the current disease situation since it become is only available 12 months after the year of interest, and this point. Therefore, this type of statements should be emphasized in the report. The reports do not always clearly identify the reference population, the data sources, and data collection approaches (surveillance methodology) used for the various diseases. Although the intention is to get the best and reliable relevant data, there is a need to consider these three essential elements in order to make appropriate inferences. The use of weighted seroprevalence for brucellosis by the ratio of the number of herds to those tested is a good addition to the current report. This approach should be generalized to all other diseases that can be addressed from clustering either by herd or community. Limited data analyses were included in the reports although it was recognized that the nature of the data and the collection systems may preclude subsequent data analysis. Nevertheless these types of limitation should be highlighted. Statistical methods, such as trend analysis, should be presented as part of the introduction and the data analysis. The reports contain several statements to indicate statistical significance and the statistical method used should be specified in the text. The 2010 Report included more details of parasitic zoonoses than the 2009 Report. These results, however, are not linked to further interpretation e.g. the potential reasons for any decrease or increase. It was noticed that the 2010 Report has improved in its presentation in comparison to 2009 report.
It was recommended that the AHAW and BIOHAZ Panels should be consulted (e.g. as part of their annual mandate) before the Report is released to the public.