International Circumpolar Surveillance (ICS) is a population-based surveillance system for invasive bacterial diseases established in the U.S. Arctic, Northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Finland, and Northern Sweden. Data collection began in 1999 and includes information on disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis, and groups A and B Streptococcus (GAS, GBS). This report reviews the data collected for the year 2009.

The ICS program continued to expand in 2006. Monitoring rates of disease and levels of antimicrobial resistance in S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, N. meningitidis, GAS and GBS via use of the ICS system is important in providing data on groups at risk for disease, measurement of effectiveness of prevention measures, and emerging challenges in serotype distribution and antimicrobial resistance. Efforts to expand ICS to include all circumpolar nations will continue.

ICS is a cooperative project funded by the Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, and by the Public Health Agency of Canada in Ottawa, Canada.

Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library collection
Arctic Investigations Program