Cholera and Other Vibrio Illness Surveillance

At a glance

  • The Cholera and Other Vibrio Illness Surveillance (COVIS) system is used for reporting U.S. cases of Vibrio infection (cholera and vibriosis).
  • Information in COVIS helps CDC track infections and determine patient, food, and environmental risk factors.
Map of Vibrio vulnificus cases in the United States reported to the Cholera and Other Vibrio Illness Surveillance System, by jurisdiction in 2019

Background

CDC initiated COVIS in 1989 in collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and four Gulf Coast states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas). CDC maintains COVIS.

What's collected

Health officials report cases of Vibrio infection using the COVIS report form, which captures the following information:

  • A description of the person's illness and underlying health conditions
  • Recent seafood consumption
  • Recent exposure to:
    • Bodies of water
    • Raw or live seafood or their drippings
    • Marine life
  • Source(s) of implicated seafood

Data

Annual summaries of COVIS data

Searchable data tools

BEAM Dashboard

The BEAM (Bacteria, Enterics, Amoeba, and Mycotics) Dashboard provides timely data on pathogen trends and serotype details to inform work to prevent illnesses from food and animal contact.

FoodNet Fast

FoodNet Fast provides information on Vibrio and selected other pathogens transmitted commonly through food, including data on rates of illness and diagnostic testing practices.

NORS Dashboard

NORS Dashboard contains information from reports of outbreaks of foodborne, waterborne, and enteric (intestinal) diseases spread by person-to-person contact, environmental contamination, animal contact, and other means.

Other Vibrio surveillance

Some other systems at CDC conduct surveillance on Vibrio infections and outbreaks in the United States.