Surveillance of Invasive Bacterial Diseases: Vaccine-Preventable & Epidemic-Prone Pathogens
The GERMS-SA surveillance system is a national, active, laboratory-based surveillance system that has been in place since 2003. GERMS-SA monitors invasive bacterial infections caused by pathogens of public health importance in South Africa. Data are collected from both public and private laboratories across South Africa, with clinical isolates and specimens sent to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) for further characterisation. Additionally, the Surveillance Data Warehouse (SDW) is used to identify unreported cases, referred to as audit cases.
The Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis (CRDM) quarterly report on laboratory-based surveillance for invasive bacterial disease caused by vaccine-preventable or epidemic-prone pathogens summarises trends in invasive disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Streptococcus pyogenes. The report includes the number of episodes identified by age and province, submission rates to NICD, organism viability, as well as serotyping/serogrouping characterisation.
This report covers the reporting period from 01 January 2024 to 31 December 2024
Highlights:
- In the current reporting period, 1907 episodes of invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae, 219 episodes of invasive Haemophilus influenzae, 147 cases of invasive Neisseria meningitidis, 826 cases of invasive Streptococcus agalactiae and 682 cases of Streptococcus pyogenes were reported to GERMS-SA.
- Proportion of cases detected by audit (identified through Surveillance Data Warehouse but no specimen/isolate submitted) ranged from 16% (24/147) for meningitidis to 55% (454/826) for S. agalactiae.
- Case trends returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2024, with no concerning patterns based on patient age or serotypes/groups detected. Where serotype/serogroup could be determined, pneumoniae episodes were predominantly caused by non-PCV10/PCV13 serotypes (853/1247, 68%), serotype 8 being most commonly identified. H. influenzae episodes were predominantly caused by non-typeable isolates (52/102, 51%) and N. meningitidis by serogroup B (33/94, 35%).
