Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Enhanced Rabies Surveillance Using a Direct Rapid Immunohistochemical Test
Published on: April 30, 2019
Spatial Methods to Enhance Public Health Surveillance and Resource Deployment in the Opioid Epidemic
Zan M Dodson1, Eun-Hye Enki Yoo1, Christian Martin-Gill1
1Zan M. Dodson is with the Public Health Dynamics Laboratory, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA. Eun-Hye Enki Yoo is with the Department of Geography, State University of New York at Buffalo. Christian Martin-Gill and Ronald Roth are with the Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Pittsburgh.
Objectives:
To improve public health surveillance and response by using spatial optimization.
Methods:
We identified cases of suspected nonfatal opioid overdose events in which naloxone was administered from April 2013 through December 2016 treated by the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Bureau of Emergency Medical Services. We used spatial modeling to identify areas hardest hit to spatially optimize naloxone distribution among pharmacies in Pittsburgh.
Results:
We identified 3182 opioid overdose events with our classification approach, which generated spatial patterns of opioid overdoses within Pittsburgh. We then used overdose location to spatially optimize accessibility to naloxone via pharmacies in the city. Only 24 pharmacies offered naloxone at the time, and only 3 matched with our optimized solution.
Conclusions:
Our methodology rapidly identified communities hardest hit by the opioid epidemic with standard public health data. Naloxone accessibility can be optimized with established location-allocation approaches. Public Health Implications. Our methodology can be easily implemented by public health departments for automated surveillance of the opioid epidemic and has the flexibility to optimize a variety of intervention strategies.
Related Concept Videos
Opioid Analgesics: Synthetic and Semisynthetic Opioids
Opioid Receptors: Overview
Short-distance Transport of Resources
Principles of Disease Surveillance
Opioid Analgesics: Morphine and Other Natural Cogeners
Immune Surveillance by NK Cells and Phagocytes
Natural Killer Cells: The Fast Responders
NK cells are large granular lymphocytes found in the blood and lymphatic system. These...

