Background

Group for Enteric Respiratory and Meningeal disease Surveillance in South Africa (GERMS-SA) comprises of a nationwide network of clinical microbiology laboratories participation in an active laboratory-based surveillance programme for bacterial and fungal pathogens of public health importance. Approximately 270 public and private sector laboratories nationwide, submit clinical isolates or specimens according to specific case definitions to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reference laboratories for further characterisation. In addition, at 23 hospitals in 9 provinces (our "enhanced" or “sentinel" sites), GERMS-SA has employed nursing sisters to act as Surveillance Officers (SOs). The SOs work hard to collect additional clinical and epidemiological information on the laboratory-confirmed cases. By doing so, GERMS-SA has formed an extensive database of communicable diseases in South Africa, which provides essential public health information to the Department of Health and other interested parties.

The following bacterial and fungal diseases are included in the GERMS-SA programme:

• AIDS related opportunistic infections
  Cryptococcosis, Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP), Salmonellosis, invasive Pneumococcal disease
• Epidemic-prone diseases
  Cholera, typhoid, meningococcal disease, diarrhoeagenic E. coli (EHEC)
• Vaccine-preventable diseases
  Haemophilus influenzae type b disease