Surveillance of imported diseases as a window to travel health risks

Surveillance of imported infectious diseases can provide valuable information for potentially exposed travelers and for affected populations in endemic countries. Reliable data quality, fast data management, and immediate communication of reports to all involved partners are crucial. Clinical networks are in an excellent position to achieve this. TropNetEurop, the largest network worldwide for surveillance of imported infectious diseases, is presented as an example. This network collects information on malaria, dengue fever, and schistosomiasis. Regular summary reports benefit all network members and their clinical practice. Screening tools used by the network enable timely and efficient detection of sentinel events even from small report numbers.