Distributed and Mobile Collaboration for Real Time Epidemiological Surveillance during Forces Deployments

Area of Science:

• Military Medicine
• Epidemiology
• Public Health Surveillance

Background:

• Biological attacks pose a significant threat to military personnel.
• Effective early warning systems are crucial for mitigating the impact of WMD events.
• Existing surveillance systems may not be optimized for deployed forces in diverse environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To pilot a real-time syndromic surveillance system for the French armed forces.
• To assess the feasibility of early warning for biological attacks in a simulated operational setting.
• To evaluate the system's performance in extreme conditions with mobile forces.

Main Methods:

• Deployment of an electronic syndromic surveillance system in French Guiana (approx. 3,000 individuals).
• Connection to a surveillance center in France, utilizing diverse hardware and telecommunication links (PDA, desktop, PSTN, satellite).
• Georeferenced case reporting and collaborative epidemiological surveillance approach.

Main Results:

• The system facilitated quick reporting of cases with georeferencing capabilities.
• Identified challenges related to human factors and technical aspects of the system.
• Observed immediate advantages in surveillance capabilities.

Conclusions:

• The pilot project demonstrated the potential of real-time syndromic surveillance for military biological threat detection.
• Addressing human and technical challenges is essential for successful implementation.
• The system shows promise for enhancing early warning and response in deployed military settings.