A new data collection system for Epilabo: the network of sentinel laboratories

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of having a robust, digital system for timely data collection of laboratory test results at the national level in the context of surveillance of infectious diseases. As part of European Commission funded project (EU-HIP), we here present the implementation of a new, near real-time, laboratory-based surveillance system that was built upon the experiences of COVID-19 and the Belgian sentinel network of laboratories (Epilabo), established in 1983.

Methods

Individual test results are transferred in bulk from the data infrastructure of the clinical microbiology laboratory (CML) to the Healthdata.be platform in a system to system framework. Data collection relies on international standard for the coding of the test results (LOINC and SNOMED-CT codes). Nominative or pseudonymized data are processed according to the legal mandate of different stakeholders. Linkage with other data sets is performed  through a recoded national identification of social security number (NISS).

Results

We present the current implementation of this new surveillance system, using COVID-19 to highlight its potential in terms of real-time surveillance via automatic extraction of laboratory test results and the impact of different counter measures in the population by linking datasets. From the summer of 2023 onwards we aim a gradual onboarding of CML to achieve a coverage in all provinces of the country within the new data collection system.

Conclusions

The new data collection system presented here represents a major improvement in terms of data security, integrity, quality and workability for the CML as for the public health stakeholders. It will serve as a cornerstone for timely and comprehensive surveillance of infectious diseases, measure the impact of infectious diseases in the population and enhance pandemic preparedness in Belgium.