Different exposure attribution methods (i.e., epidemiologic investigations, microbiological typing/subtyping, intervention studies, and expert elicitations) have been used to estimate the foodborne proportion of the overall disease incidence caused by a pathogen.
Included studies were randomised clinical trials of probiotic interventions having microbiological assays.
We also summarise information on changes in clinical and microbiological outcomes associated with interventions when this was reported.
The patients were classified according to the clinical profile, microbiological data and therapeutic interventions in five groups: probable fungal infection, empiric therapy, fungemia, confirmed fungal infection and colonization.
Until a healthy microbiome is clearly defined, providing a microbiological target for probiotic interventions, probiotic benefits must be described in the context of physiological or clinical improvement.
Their use also presents challenges for maintaining the EIP ability to accurately describe disease burdens, the effect of interventions, and microbiological and molecular characteristics of pathogens over time.
None continually measured the microbiological performance of their interventions against the full range of bacterial, viral, and protozoan pathogens known to cause diarrhoea.
Some studies of POU water treatment undertook indirect assessments of adherence by measuring residual chlorine levels in stored water, comparing microbiological water quality of intervention and control groups, conducting periodic or post-study surveys, or counting the amount of intervention product used.
The review concluded that, in general, interventions to improve microbiological quality of drinking water are effective in preventing diarrhoea, and that interventions at the household level were more effective than those at the source.
The main objectives of surveillance are to 1) measure disease burden and monitor disease trends over time, 2) evaluate the impact of public health interventions, 3) track microbiological and molecular characteristics of pathogens, and 4) detect emerging infectious disease threats.
