Nsoesie Elaine

Epidemiologists, public health agencies and scientists increasingly augment traditional surveillance systems with alternative data sources such as, digital surveillance systems utilizing news reports and social media, over-the-counter medication sales, and school absenteeism. Similar to school absenteeism, an increase in reservation cancellations could serve as an early indicator of social disruption including a major public health event. In this study, we evaluated whether a rise in restaurant table availabilities could be associated with an increase in disease incidence.

Objective

The objective of this study is to evaluate whether trends in online restaurant table reservations can be used as an early indicator for a disease outbreak.

Traditional surveillance systems only capture a fraction of the estimated 48 million yearly cases of foodborne illness in the United States due to few affected individuals seeking medical care and lack of reporting to appropriate authorities. Non-traditional disease surveillance approaches could be used to supplement foodborne illness surveillance systems.

Objective

We assessed whether foodservice reviews on Yelp.com (a business review site) can be used to support foodborne illness surveillance efforts.

Foodborne illness affects 1 in 4 Americans, annually. However, only a fraction of affected individuals seek medical attention. To supplement traditional approaches to foodborne disease surveillance, researchers and public health departments are considering reports of foodborne illness on social media sites. In this project, we work with local public health departments to develop a platform that uses digital data sources such as, Twitter and Yelp, to supplement foodborne disease surveillance efforts. In addition to monitoring reports of illness, this platform can also be used to respond to suspected foodborne illness reports and spur restaurant inspections to ensure food safety. To this end, we have developed a Dashboard that monitors social media chatter for reports of food poisoning in real-time. The Dashboard facilitates responding to illness reports and contacting consumers to provide additional information through a reporting form. The Dashboard is low cost, easy to use and designed to enable easy implementation for any region.

Objective

Develop a platform to enable local surveillance of foodborne illness reported on social media and restaurant review sites for supplementing traditional foodborne disease surveillance programs. In this presentation, we will discuss our collaboration with local public health departments to develop a foodborne disease surveillance Dashboard.

Local transmission of Zika virus has been confirmed in 67 countries worldwide and in 46 countries or territories in the Americas. On February 1, 2016 the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern due to the increase in microcephaly cases and other neurological disorders reported in Brazil. Several countries issued travel warnings for pregnant women travelling to Zika-affected countries with Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and El Salvador advising against pregnancy. The risk of local transmission in unaffected regions is unknown but potentially significant where competent Zika vectors are present and also given the additional complexities of sexual transmission and population mobility. Despite the rapid spread of Zika virus across the Americas and global concerns regarding its effects on fetuses, little is known about the pattern of spread. Knowledge of the direction and the speed of movement of disease is invaluable for public health response planning, including the timing and placement of interventions.

Objective

To estimate the velocity of Zika virus disease spread in Brazil using data on confirmed Zika virus disease cases at the municipal-level.