PHSkb: a knowledgebase to support notifiable disease surveillance.

Area of Science:

• Public Health Informatics
• Health Surveillance Systems
• Knowledge Management in Public Health

Background:

• Notifiable disease surveillance in the US is often passive, leading to issues with timeliness and sensitivity.
• There is a need for interoperable tools that integrate clinical and laboratory data to enhance surveillance.
• Current systems require improvements for effective public health monitoring.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop the Public Health Surveillance Knowledgebase (PHSkb) for improved notifiable disease surveillance.
• To create a centralized, accessible repository of domain knowledge for public health surveillance.
• To design a system that supports automated case detection and decision support.

Main Methods:

• Developed a computer database using Protégé ontology and knowledgebase editing software.
• Collected data from state health department websites and integrated it with NNDSS information.
• Harmonized domain concepts with existing vocabulary standards for interoperability.

Main Results:

• The PHSkb provides quick, easy access to domain knowledge on US notifiable diseases.
• The knowledgebase can serve as a controlled vocabulary for data aggregation.
• It enables queriable domain knowledge for surveillance partners and supports automated case detection.

Conclusions:

• The PHSkb is an extensible, interoperable component for notifiable disease surveillance systems.
• This resource has the potential to significantly improve public health surveillance.
• Further development and testing are recommended to maximize its utility.