Methods Using Social Media and Search Queries to Predict Infectious Disease Outbreaks / 대한의료정보학회지

OBJECTIVES: For earlier detection of infectious disease outbreaks, a digital syndromic surveillance system based on search queries or social media should be utilized. By using real-time data sources, a digital syndromic surveillance system can overcome the limitation of time-delay in traditional surveillance systems. Here, we introduce an approach to develop such a digital surveillance system. METHODS: We first explain how the statistics data of infectious diseases, such as influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in Korea, can be collected for reference data. Then we also explain how search engine queries can be retrieved from Google Trends. Finally, we describe the implementation of the prediction model using lagged correlation, which can be calculated by the statistical packages, i.e., SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). RESULTS: Lag correlation analyses demonstrated that search engine data/Twitter have a significant temporal relationship with influenza and MERS data. Therefore, the proposed digital surveillance system can be used to predict infectious disease outbreaks earlier. CONCLUSIONS: This prediction method could be the core engine for implementing a (near-) real-time digital surveillance system. A digital surveillance system that uses Internet resources has enormous potential to monitor disease outbreaks in the early phase.

A strategic construction plan for implementing military biodefense syndromic survei-llance system in China / 军事医学

The paper discusses the feasibility and urgency of building the military syndromic surveillance system ( SSS) against biological threats in China .Based on the external environment and necessary conditions for our military SSS , the study proposeds a strategic construction plan for implementing our military biodefense SSS , involving the function objectives and performance indexes , system principles and framework , functional modules , syndromic classification and task flow analysis.

U.S.military syndromic surveillance system ESSENCE:a typical case study / 军事医学

Syndromic surveillance , based on non-specific pre-diagnosis and other information , is capable of nearly real-time detection and early warning of potential bioterrorism and emerging infectious threats .Developed countries , led by the U.S., have conducted in-depth and front research in this area while China has just started syndromic surveillance re -search in the exploratory trial stage .The Chinese army is facing an urgent need for syndromic surveillance .This paper makes a case study of foreign military syndromic surveillance practices , typically the U.S.representative system ESSENSE , which was developed by the U .S.Department of Defense and deployed in all military treatment facilities .Some suggestions for the Chinese army are also discussed .