National occurrence reporting of Trichinella and trichinellosis using a computerized database

Historical and contemporary national data on the occurrence and distributio n of Trichinella and trichinellosis in people, domestic animals and wildlif e in Canada have been incorporated into a computerized database, the Canada Database of Animal Parasites (CDAP). This database was established in 1998 , and contains similar information on several other helminth and protozoan parasites which are of importance in animal health, human health, food safe ty or trade. The CDAP is a unique assemblage of national information on par asite occurrences, not available from any other single source. This paper d escribes the CDAP, with emphasis on sources of data, database structure and outputs, logistical issues associated with database development and mainte nance, and the application of the CDAP to Trichinella surveillance at a nat ional level. It is suggested that the CDAP, or a similar approach, could be applied in other countries for assembling data on Trichinella and trichine llosis. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.