Utility and potential of rapid epidemic intelligence from internet-based sources

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Information Science

Background:

• Traditional surveillance data often lacks the speed required for acute epidemic control.
• The internet's vast unstructured data offers potential for rapid epidemic intelligence.
• Timely intervention relies on swift detection and monitoring of disease outbreaks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review Internet-based methods using freely accessible, unstructured data for epidemic surveillance.
• To explore the timeliness and accuracy of these Internet-based surveillance approaches.
• To summarize current research on digital data for public health surveillance.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist.
• Analysis of research on informal or unstructured data utilized by Internet-based intelligence methods.
• Inclusion of studies published between 2006-2016.

Main Results:

• Identified 84 relevant articles on Internet-based public health surveillance.
• Methods included search queries, social media analysis, and existing alert systems.
• Most studies reported improved timeliness over official reporting, with some demonstrating reasonable accuracy.

Conclusions:

• Publicly available Internet data presents a novel pathway for epidemic intelligence.
• Developed methodologies effectively collect Internet data, enhancing traditional surveillance timeliness.
• Future evaluations must assess timeliness and data accuracy to maximize the utility of Internet-based systems.