Surveillance of aseptic central nervous system infections in Poland: is it meeting its objectives?

One of the first approaches to evaluate surveillance of communicable diseases in Poland, implemented 50 years before. Surveillance of central nervous system (CNS) infections of probable viral etiology (aspeptic) is quite interesting, because it emphasizes registering all CNS infections, no matter whether confirmed or unknown etiology. Such surveillance based on reporting syndromes, could be useful in generating signals, for example if the number of meningitis cases would suddenly increase. However, we documented that the Polish system does not have clearly stated goals and therefore is difficult to use for any particular objective. Because of lack of objectives and transparent usefulness, physicians may be reluctant to participate in such surveillance...