A spatial hierarchical model for integrating and bias-correcting data from passive and active disease surveillance systems

Contemporary infectious disease surveillance systems aim to employ the speed and scope of big data in an attempt to provide global health security. Both shifts - the perception of health problems through the framework of global health security and the corresponding technological approaches – imply epistemological changes, methodological ambivalences as well as manifold societal effects. Bringing current findings from social sciences and public health praxis into a dialogue, this conversation style contribution points out several broader implications of changing disease surveillance. The conversation covers epidemiological issues such as the shift from expert knowledge to algorithmic knowledge, the securitization of global health, and the construction of new kinds of threats. Those developments are detailed and discussed in their impacts for health provision in a broader sense.

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Australian National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory annual report, 2017

Communicable Diseases Intelligence ◽

10.33321/cdi.2020.44.32 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 44 ◽

Author(s):

Jason A Roberts ◽

Linda K Hobday ◽

Aishah Ibrahim ◽

Bruce R Thorley

Keyword(s):

Surveillance System ◽

Disease Surveillance ◽

Performance Criterion ◽

World Health ◽

Reference Laboratory ◽

Surveillance Systems ◽

Disease Surveillance System ◽

Enterovirus A71 ◽

Clinical Surveillance ◽

Health Organization

Australia monitors its polio-free status by conducting surveillance for cases of acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) in children less than 15 years of age, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Cases of AFP in children are notified to the Australian Paediatric Surveillance Unit or the Paediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance System and faecal specimens are referred for virological investigation to the National Enterovirus Reference Laboratory. In 2017, no cases of poliomyelitis were reported from clinical surveillance and Australia reported 1.33 non-polio AFP cases per 100,000 children, meeting the WHO performance criterion for a sensitive surveillance system. Three non-polio enteroviruses, coxsackievirus B1, echovirus 11 and enterovirus A71, were identified from clinical specimens collected from AFP cases. Australia established enterovirus and environmental surveillance systems to complement the clinical system focussed on children and an ambiguous vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 was isolated from sewage in Melbourne. In 2017, 22 cases of wild polio were reported with three countries remaining endemic: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.

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Investigating the Impact of Asymptomatic Carriers on COVID-19 Transmission

10.1101/2020.03.18.20037994 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Jacob B. Aguilar ◽

Jeremy Samuel Faust ◽

Lauren M. Westafer ◽

Juan B. Gutierrez

Keyword(s):

Disease Surveillance ◽

Reproduction Number ◽

Clinical Symptoms ◽

Communicable Disease ◽

Average Rate ◽

Point Estimate ◽

Surveillance Systems ◽

Average Case ◽

Asymptomatic Carriers ◽

The Impact

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a novel human respiratory disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Asymptomatic carriers of the virus display no clinical symptoms but are known to be contagious. Recent evidence reveals that this sub-population, as well as persons with mild disease, are a major contributor in the propagation of COVID-19. The asymptomatic sub-population frequently escapes detection by public health surveillance systems. Because of this, the currently accepted estimates of the basic reproduction number (ℛ0) of the disease are inaccurate. It is unlikely that a pathogen can blanket the planet in three months with an ℛ0 in the vicinity of 3, as reported in the literature (1–6). In this manuscript, we present a mathematical model taking into account asymptomatic carriers. Our results indicate that an initial value of the effective reproduction number could range from 5.5 to 25.4, with a point estimate of 15.4, assuming mean parameters. The first three weeks of the model exhibit exponential growth, which is in agreement with average case data collected from thirteen countries with universal health care and robust communicable disease surveillance systems; the average rate of growth in the number of reported cases is 23.3% per day during this period.

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National surveillance capacity of water-related diseases in the WHO European Region

Journal of Water and Health ◽

10.2166/wh.2011.039 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 9 (4) ◽

pp. 752-762

Author(s):

M. Blasi ◽

M. Carere ◽

E. Funari

Keyword(s):

Disease Surveillance ◽

Task Force ◽

Sustainable Use ◽

Outbreak Detection ◽

European Region ◽

Contingency Planning ◽

Surveillance Systems ◽

Remedial Action ◽

Mortality And Morbidity ◽

Related Disease

Water-related diseases continue to cause a high burden of mortality and morbidity in the countries of the European Region. Parties to the Protocol on Water and Health are committed to the sustainable use of water resources, the provision of safe drinking water and adequate sanitation to all people of the European Region, and to the reduction of the burden of water-related diseases. A specialized Task Force is implementing a work plan aimed at strengthening the capacity for water-related disease surveillance, outbreak detection and contingency planning. Parties to the Protocol are obliged to set targets, and report on progress on water-related disease surveillance. The present paper aims to provide a baseline assessment of national capacities for water-related disease surveillance on the basis of the replies to a questionnaire. This was prepared in English and Russian and administered to 53 countries, 15 of which replied. The results confirm the heterogeneity in surveillance systems, the weakness of many countries to adequately survey emerging water-related diseases, and the need for specific remedial action. The findings of the exercise will form the basis for future action under the Protocol on Water and Health.

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Evaluating Chronic Disease Surveillance Systems: Lessons Learned From Applying a Framework to Assess the Alaska Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

American Journal of Evaluation ◽

10.1177/1098214019887228 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 41 (3) ◽

pp. 420-431

Author(s):

Katie Cueva ◽

Andrea Fenaughty ◽

Jessica Aulasa Liendo ◽

Samantha Hyde-Rolland

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Chronic Disease ◽

Surveillance System ◽

Disease Surveillance ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Behavioral Risk ◽

Surveillance Systems ◽

Behavioral Risk Factor ◽

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance ◽

Risk Factor Surveillance

Chronic diseases with behavioral risk factors are now the leading causes of death in the United States. A national Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) monitors those risk factors; however, there is a need for national and state evaluations of chronic disease surveillance systems. The Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a framework on evaluating noncommunicable disease–related surveillance systems; however, no implementation of this framework has yet been published. This article describes the process of, and offers lessons learned from, implementing the evaluation framework to assess the Alaska BRFSS. This implementation evaluation may inform assessments of other state and regional chronic disease surveillance systems and offers insight on the positive potential to consult key stakeholders to guide evaluation priorities.

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More appropriate disease control policies for the developing world : policy and trade issues

Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research ◽

10.4102/ojvr.v76i1.77 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 76 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

J.C. Mariner

Keyword(s):

Disease Control ◽

Critical Points ◽

Disease Transmission ◽

Disease Surveillance ◽

Animal Health ◽

Surveillance Systems ◽

Community Based ◽

Market Effects ◽

Disease Impact ◽

Health Situation

Investment in disease control should be targeted to critical points that provide the greatest benefit to the livelihoods of livestock-dependent stakeholders. Risk-based targeting should balance the impacts of diseases against the feasibility of their control. This requires sensitive and specific surveillance systems that provide representative overviews of the animal health situation for accurate assessment of disease impact and transmission patterns. Assessment of impact should include household and market effects. The key in surveillance is involving livestock owners using active methods that ensure their disease priorities are addressed. Epidemiological targeting of interventions to critical points in disease transmission cycles should be done to obtain maximal disease reduction. Interventions should be delivered in full partnership with both private and community-based stakeholders to assure high uptake and sustainability. In developing countries, approaches such as participatory disease surveillance and community-based animal health programs have been effective and comply with international animal health standards.

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