Hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS) is defined by the triad of sudden onset of microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, thrombocytopenia, and acute renal failure. In France, a study—which included a retrospective survey of the number of hospitalized cases between January 1993 and March 31, 1995, and a prospective survey of hospitalized cases from April 1995 to March 1996—was conducted in 1996 in collaboration with members of the Society of Pediatric Nephrology. This study confirmed that in France, HUS was not a rare disease but a genuine public health problem, and that the majority of "typical" HUS cases identified in this study were associated with VTEC infection, with a high prevalence of serogroup O157. Following this study, a surveillance system for "typical" pediatric HUS was established in 1996. Its objectives are to monitor the spatial and temporal trends of HUS among children under 15 years of age in France and identify the causative agents, to determine the characteristics of the cases, and to detect epidemic outbreaks. The main results of this surveillance for the year 1999 and the evolution of the main epidemiological characteristics of "typical" pediatric HUS in France since 1993 are presented in this article.