PulseNet International

News and Updates

Recent international foodborne outbreaks involving PulseNet more

Sixth Annual Meeting for PulseNet Latin America May 2008 more

Joint PulseNet/WHO GSS Integrated Surveillance Training Course, Argentina, May 2008 more

First PulseNet International Steering Committee Meeting, June 2008, Halifax, Canada more

Background:

Foodborne illnesses do not respect any borders. As a result of increasing international trade, food produced in one country may be consumed in a different part of the world and cause disease if contaminated with a foodborne pathogen. Similarly, international travel is increasing and it is possible to get to almost any destination from almost any place in the world in a matter of hours. Therefore, a disease contracted in one part of the world may first become come apparent thousands of miles away. PulseNet International is a network of networks dedicated to track foodborne infections worldwide.

Vision:

Worldwide regional networks utilizing standardized identification and isolate characterization methods and sharing information in real-time to provide early warning on foodborne disease outbreaks, emerging foodborne infections, and acts of food bioterrorism.

Mission:

To reduce the global burden of foodborne illnesses.

Objectives:

To participate in the investigation of outbreaks of foodborne infections and to facilitate early recognition of foodborne disease clusters that may represent common source outbreaks through molecular surveillance of infections at the global level by:

Partnering with reference laboratories throughout the world
Building capacity for molecular surveillance of foodborne infections
Collaborating on the development, validation and implementation of internationally standardized subtyping methods to be used in the networks
Performing collaborative studies on the geographic distribution and spread of different clones of foodborne pathogens