Computer-based infectious disease surveillance systems represent a major step forward in disease surveillance. This book analyzes and evaluates the outbreak modeling and detection capabilities of existing surveillance systems under a unified framework.

SYNDROMIC SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS.- Infectious Disease Informatics: An Introduction and An Analysis Framework.- Public Health Syndromic Surveillance Systems.- Syndromic Surveillance Data Sources and Collection Strategies.- Data Analysis and Outbreak Detection.- Data Visualization, Information Dissemination, and Alerting.- System Assessment and Evaluation.- SYNDROMIC SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM CASE STUDIES.- BioSense.- RODS.- BioPortal.- ESSENCE.- New York City Syndromic Surveillance Systems.- EARS.- Argus.- HealthMap.- Challenges and Future Directions.

Computer-based infectious disease surveillance systems are capable of real-time or near real-time detection of serious illnesses and potential bioterrorism agent exposures and represent a major step forward in disease surveillance.  Infectious Disease Informatics: Syndromic Surveillance for Public Health and Bio-Defense is an in-depth monograph that analyzes and evaluates the outbreak modeling and detection capabilities of existing surveillance systems under a unified framework, and presents the first book-length coverage of the subject from an informatics-driven perspective. Individual chapters consider the state of the art, including the facilitation of data collection, sharing and transmission; a focus on various outbreak detection methods; data visualization and information dissemination issues; and system assessment and other policy issues.  Eight chapters then report on several real-world case studies, summarizing and comparing eight syndromic surveillance systems, including those that have been adopted by many public health agencies (e.g., RODS and BioSense).  The book concludes with a discussion of critical issues and challenges, with a look to future directions. This book is an excellent source of current information for researchers in public health and IT.  Government public health officials and private-sector practitioners in both public health and IT will find the most up-to-date information available, and students from a variety of disciplines, including public health, biostatistics, information systems, computer science, and public administration and policy will get a comprehensive look at the concepts, techniques, and practices of syndromic surveillance.

From the reviews:“This book summarizes and describes the state-of-art research on the development and implementation of health surveillance systems that use early indicators of disease to identify outbreaks. … The book was written for upper-level undergraduates and graduates in health sciences, computer science, and public administration, researchers in public health and IT, and government public health officials. … This is the best book that presents a comprehensive coverage of syndromic surveillance systems.” (Edward K. Mensah, Doody’s Review Service, August, 2010)

Examines the state of the art in disease surveillance systems First book to cover the subject from an informatics-driven perspective Authors are the most respected researchers in informatics Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras