Pet diseases may pose risks to human health but are rarely included in surveillance systems. A pilot surveillance system of pet infectious diseases in Santiago, Chile, found that 4 canine and 3 feline diseases accounted for 90.1% and 98.4% of notifications, respectively. Data also suggested association between poverty and pet diseases.C ommunicable diseases challenge health systems and require coordinated efforts for their control. Surveillance systems for human communicable diseases have been implemented since the 19th century. Surveillance of animal infections started later and focused on livestock production. More recently, in response to emerging zoonoses such as avian influenza and West Nile virus infection, novel surveillance systems for wild animals have been implemented (1). Although pet-borne infections have become increasingly relevant to human health, systematic notification of these infections is not currently conducted, except for rabies.Pets (domesticated dogs and cats that live in close proximity to humans) may pose several risks to their owners' health and create occupational hazards for professionals such as veterinarians. They can also serve as sentinels for several diseases by alerting persons to the presence of infectious agents in a community (2). These features emphasize the need for surveillance systems of pet infectious diseases, especially those that can be transmitted to humans (3).In Chile, as in other countries, pet infectious diseases, except for rabies, have not been included in any surveillance system; for this reason, information about their epidemiology is scarce. Thus, a pilot surveillance system for infectious disease of pet dogs and cats was implemented for a 2-year period in Santiago, Chile.
The StudyDuring October 2004-September 2006, the sentinel surveillance system was implemented in 61 veterinary clinics (30 during the first year and another 31 during the second year) located in 34 districts of Santiago (population 5.4 million). Pet population estimates (1,117,192 dogs; 518,613 cats) were derived from a study conducted previously in Santiago (4) and corresponded to a rate of ≈1 sentinel centers per 27,000 pets. Sentinel centers were asked to participate on a voluntary basis and were grouped similarly to the human health services, following geographic criteria.Of the 12 notifiable infectious diseases in the surveillance system, 5 were nonzoonotic (distemper, canine infectious tracheobronchitis, feline respiratory complex disease, feline leukemia, and hemorrhagic gastroenteritis), and 7 were zoonotic (giardiasis, brucellosis, leptospirosis, rabies, ehrlichiosis, scabies, and tinea infection). Definitions were established for suspected and confirmed cases of each disease. Laboratory confirmation was required for diagnosis of giardiasis, brucellosis, leptospirosis, and rabies. Personnel from each sentinel center recorded their data on a website. They were trained in operative definitions and procedures, which included submitting a weekly report of the total number of cases ...
