Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE): Overview,...

Area of Science:

• Public Health Surveillance
• Epidemiology
• Health Informatics

Background:

• The Electronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-Based Epidemics (ESSENCE) is a secure, web-based tool developed for monitoring public health indicators.
• Its development originated from a Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory project, evolving through state and military collaborations to address timely detection of health threats.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the components and evolution of a comprehensive biosurveillance system coordinating all-hazards health surveillance.
• To outline key features, lessons learned, and the diverse applications by local epidemiologists.

Main Methods:

• ESSENCE incorporates features like spatial-temporal statistical alerting, custom querying, and interactive data visualization tools.
• It enables data stratification, filtering, graphical customization, and communication for a coherent view of population health.

Main Results:

• ESSENCE has been adopted by CDC, numerous health departments, and the Department of Defense, demonstrating broad utility and adaptability.
• An open-source version is available for resource-limited settings, with applications ranging from infectious diseases to natural disasters and substance abuse.

Conclusions:

• ESSENCE provides an adaptable disease surveillance capability driven by user requirements for emerging health threats.
• The system's evolving architecture addresses the challenges of supporting widely distributed users with diverse data sources and high throughput needs.