Infections: key data sources

Public Health Scotland (PHS) is the main source of data and intelligence on infections in Scotland. PHS receives data from:

• NHS microbiology laboratories in Scotland (all associated with NHS hospitals) and some private laboratories.
• The four Public Analyst microbiology laboratories in Scotland, which process food and environmental specimens.
• The reference laboratories in Scotland for certain organisms of clinical significance: Mycobacteria spp, Cryptosporidium, parasites, Salmonella, E. coli O157, meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and S. aureus, Legionella, Pneumococci, Meningococci, Toxoplasma and Lyme disease.
• The five regional virus laboratories.
• Reference laboratories in England and Wales for diagnostic tests not available in Scotland, such as for Borrelia spp (Lyme disease), Bartonella spp (cat scratch disease), Streptococci spp, Corynebacterium diphtheriae, Multiple-resistant Gram-negative bacilli, Leptospira, anaerobes and others.

Data are also received for some surveillance or research work directly from hospital clinics and departments involved in these studies. PHS also publishes data on the statutory notifiable diseases that are returned by NHS boards under the terms of statutory public health legislation.