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The Surveillance Window - Contextualizing Data Streams

Description

Los Alamos National Laboratory has been funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to determine the relevance of data streams for an integrated global biosurveillance system. We used a novel method of evaluating the effectiveness of data streams called the “surveillance window”. The concept of the surveillance window is defined as the brief period of time when information gathered can be used to assist decision makers in effectively responding to an impending outbreak. We used a stepwise approach to defining disease specific surveillance windows;

  1. Timeline generation through historical perspectives and epidemiological simulations.
  2. Identifying the surveillance windows between changes in “epidemiological state” of an outbreak.
  3. Data streams that are used or could have been used due to their availability during the generated timeline are identified. If these data streams fall within a surveillance window, and provide both actionable and non-actionable information, they are deemed to have utility.

 

Objective

The goal of this project is the evaluation of data stream utility in integrated, global disease surveillance. This effort is part of a larger project with the goal of developing tools to provide decision-makers with timely information to predict, prepare for, and mitigate the spread of disease.

Submitted by hparton on