Global shift toward increased biovigilance

April 6, 2010

A global movement toward increased biovigilance is resulting in the rapid rollout of Canadian, American and European initiatives aimed at developing national surveillance systems for cells, tissues and organs. The Public Health Agency of Canada is leading the development of a reporting and surveillance system that will track and analyze adverse events in the transplantation of products of human origin. The system will collect data on moderate and severe adverse events —eventually expanding to include serious errors and near misses — to monitor trends in known and emerging risks and reduce the transmission of infectious diseases due to transplantation. (Canadian Medical Association Journal)