Sentinel General Practices: Tick bites and suspicion of Lyme disease

Almost all people in Belgium have a general practitioner and therefore they are a good source of information about the health of the population. The network of sentinel GPs exist since 1979. In 2019 around 120 practices participate over all Belgium. The coverage of the network is estimated at 1.1% — 1.5% of the Belgian population. Data is reported on different health problems (infectious and non-infectious diseases). Therefore the impact of different health problems and their characteristics can be studied. Some of them are monitored continuously over time (e.g. acute respiratory infections and influenza-like illness). Other are monitored recurrently to gather data at regular intervals that can be compared and support the authorities in charge of health policies. Varicella, tick bites or suspicion of Lyme disease, and falls among patients ≥ 65 years are themes that have been studied in the past.比利时几乎所有民众均拥有全科医师，因此该群体是获取人群健康相关信息的优质来源。比利时哨兵全科医生（sentinel GPs）监测网络自1979年起正式运行。2019年，比利时全国共有约120家全科诊所参与该网络，其覆盖范围约占比利时总人口的1.1%至1.5%。 本数据集涵盖各类健康问题（感染性与非感染性疾病）的上报数据，借此可开展不同健康问题的影响及其特征相关研究。其中部分疾病会被长期持续监测，例如急性呼吸道感染、流感样病例；另有部分疾病则会被定期重复监测，以获取可用于横向对比的标准化数据，为卫生政策主管部门提供决策支撑。既往已针对水痘、蜱虫叮咬或疑似莱姆病、65岁及以上患者跌倒等主题开展过相关研究。