Basis for a One Health Approach—Inventory of Routine Data Collections on Zoonotic Diseases in Lower Saxony, Germany

Abstract

Two-thirds of human infectious diseases are zoonotic diseases and routine data collections exist for each sector (human, veterinary, environmental). However, these operate separately and the collected data are not integrated across sectors. Publicly available information on these routine data collections in terms of metadata and the information collected is sparse. The aim was to create an inventory of routine data collections in the Federal State of Lower Saxony, Germany. A systematic screening of existing routine data collections from the human and veterinary sectors on zoonotic infectious diseases was carried out on the basis of expert interviews. A standardised template was used to collect relevant metadata on data collections and pathogens they contain. The template was transferred to Research Electronic Data Capture tools. We recorded metadata for 19 veterinary, 16 human and 2 other data collections, and for 69 different zoonotic pathogens. The frequencies of a selection of metadata were analysed descriptively. The data collections, which served different purposes, differed, e.g., in underlying population and sampling strategy, export format and access to the original data. We identified challenges for integrated analyses of data from different collections, which need to be addressed to develop a One Health monitoring and surveillance system.