4.3 Designing a surveillance system

4.3.1 Surveillance components

When designing a surveillance system, we need to consider what activities are required to pursue the surveillance objective. These activities are known as surveillance components.

A surveillance component is ‘a single surveillance activity (defined by the source of data and the methods used for its collection) used to investigate the occurrence of one or more hazards in a specified population’ (Hoinville et al., 2013). For example, this might be conducting sampling and testing at the slaughterhouse to investigate the presence of the extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)E. coli, which is a common indicator bacterium.

A surveillance system may comprise a range of surveillance components (and the associated organisational structures) used to investigate the occurrence of a single hazard in a specified population.

A surveillance portfolio is a range of surveillance components (and the associated organisational structures) used to investigate more than one hazard in a specified population.

Surveillance components included in national AMR surveillance systems can be:

• statistically based surveys
• sampling and testing of food-producing animals on the farm, at live animal markets or at slaughter
• an organised sentinel programme, for example targeted sampling of food-producing animals, herds, flocks and vectors (such as birds or rodents)
• analysis of veterinary practice and diagnostic laboratory records
• sampling and testing of products of animal origin intended for human consumption
• sampling and testing of feed ingredients or feed.