The Epidemiology of infectious diseases service participates in the surveillance of rotavirus infections thanks to data collected through the sentinel laboratories. This surveillance is done in collaboration with the National Reference Centre for rotavirus, which analyses the strains of rotavirus in circulation in Belgium.
Analysis of the data from the sentinel laboratories and from the National Reference Centre, in addition to other databases, makes it possible to follow the trend of this pathogen and to have better knowledge of the distribution of the pathogen according to age, geographical region, etc., as well as the impact of rotavirus on the population’s health. This is particularly important in order to monitor the impact of the vaccination introduced in infants in 2006.
This data is also used by the regions, the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) and other health actors.
Sciensano publishes a report each year concerning the surveillance of rotavirus infections.
Sciensano’s Quality of Vaccines and Blood Products service is recognised as the Belgian Official Medicines Control Laboratory (OMLC) and is responsible for quality control of the vaccines against rotavirus before they can be put on the European market.