Clostridioides difficile infection enhanced surveillance
Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
2009
To provide the best possible information for the control and prevention of infectious diseases, by providing timely information and independent advice, and by carrying out disease surveillance, epidemiological investigation and related research and training.
In scope: Includes healthcare (public and private hospitals and long-term care facilities) and community associated cases.
Out of scope: Infection in children under 2 years of age.
Participation of hospitals is voluntary. In Q1 2022, 60 acute public (n=48) and private (n=12) hospitals provided data.
Data collection start date in August 2009.
Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) became a notifiable disease in May 2008. In August 2009, HPSC began collecting enhanced surveillance data on all CDI cases from acute hospitals on a voluntary basis. The enhanced surveillance collects information on both new and recurrent cases and also on the onset and origin of cases. Data is reported back to participants on a quarterly basis to enable hospitals monitor trends over time.
Consultant Microbiologists; Hospital Infection Prevention & Control teams (nurses, surveillance scientists); AMRIC clinical lead; Directors of Public Health & public health medial and epidemiologist colleagues; HPSC medical & epidemiologist colleagues; Dept. of Health; HSE Communications office; National C. difficile Reference Laboratory; Hospital activity data providers.
Age, sex, hospital admission, type of CDI case (new/recurrent), location of onset of infection (healthcare/community), origin of infection (healthcare-associated or community-associated), origin facility (reporting hospital or long-term care facility; if ambulatory care provided for community-associated cases), severity of illness, treatment, ribotype & sequence type (provided by NRL) of isolate.
Enhanced surveillance protocol provides definition of variables:
https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/microbiologyantimicrobialresistance/clostridioidesdifficile/enhancedsurveillance/File,13927,en.pdf
No.
Yes: Gender, Age.
Participating hospitals email their data quarterly using an Excel spread sheet. Transmission is encrypted.
Not in use.
1,870 average number of records created annually.
Quarterly and annual reports are available on the HPSC website, www.hpsc.ie.
Data requests can be submitted via info@hpsc.ie and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
No.