International monitoring and surveillance of animal diseases using official and unofficial sources.

The need for quality and timely animal disease information, including data on zoonoses, has become more crucial than ever, not only for animal health stakeholders but also for the general public worldwide. Since its creation in 1924, the World organisation for animal health (OIE: Office International des EEpizooties) has played an active role in sharing disease information among countries and in the prevention and control of animal and zoonotic disease spread. Recently, the OIE established a single list of animal diseases with new criteria for inclusion in this list. The overriding criterion for a disease to be listed is its potential for international spread. Other criteria include its zoonotic potential or its capacity for significant spread within naive populations. Special attention is paid to the detection and listing of emerging infectious animal diseases. Member countries are obliged to submit immediate notifications and follow-up reports if infections of the listed diseases or exceptional epidemiological events occur within their country. Early warning of emerging and re-emerging animal diseases is essential for prompt precautionary measures to be taken, at national and international levels, to protect both animal and human health. At times, a proactive approach is required to ensure greater transparency. For the past few years the OIE has been examining different sources of unofficial information on disease outbreaks. These are analysed and if necessary, verified. One of the external sources of information used by the OIE to improve transparency is ProMED-mail, an internet-based reporting system that derives its data from a comprehensive range of official and unofficial sources, the media and on-site observers. Free of political constraint and staffed by professionals to ensure credibility, it is able to post very rapid preliminary and unofficial reports and summaries.