Cholera and Other Vibrio Illness Surveillance (COVIS)

The Cholera and Other Vibrio Illness Surveillance (COVIS) system is used for reporting human infections with pathogenic (illness-causing) species of the family Vibrionaceae, which cause vibriosis and cholera. CDC maintains this surveillance system.

COVIS is a national system that CDC initiated in 1989 in collaboration with the Food and Drug Administration and four Gulf Coast states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas). Health officials report cases of vibriosis and cholera using the COVIS report form [PDF – 7 pages], 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, or marine life
• source(s) of implicated seafood

Information from COVIS helps track Vibrio infections and determine patient, food, and environmental risk factors for these infections.