Gastrointestinal and Zoonoses
Biennial report 2020 to 2021

About this release

This release by Public Health Scotland (PHS) provides provisional information on laboratory reports of Gastrointestinal and Zoonotic (GIZ) pathogens in Scotland up to the end of 2021. In previous years, PHS produced separate annual reports for each organism. This year, we have integrated these into a single report. This report provides an overview of data trends and presents data observed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when strict non-pharmaceutical interventions were in place. Such interventions affected not only the epidemiology of COVID-19, but also that of other pathogens, including GIZ.

Data presented include general trends as well as seasonality, demographics, and incidence rates by NHS health board for the main GIZ pathogens for the years 2020 and 2021. Also discussed are other zoonotic pathogens and a summary of outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease with PHS involvement in years 2020 and 2021.

Revision 8 March 2023: Please note that rotavirus data differs slightly from previously published data due to a revalidation exercise. The impact of this is minor, with slightly less laboratory reports counted in years 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 (variably 1 to 3 cases different in each year) than previously published. 

Further information

Routine reporting was suspended during the pandemic due to significant service disruption, as almost all resources were redirected to the response. This report represents the return of annual GIZ reporting and includes the first presentation of data from the period of suspended reporting. This report is also the first annual GIZ report published by Public Health Scotland since it was established in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.