Detecção digital de doenças e vigilância participativa: panorama e perspectivas para o Brasil

This study aimed to describe the digital disease detection and participatory surveillance in different countries. The systems or platforms consolidated in the scientific field were analyzed by describing the strategy, type of data source, main objectives, and manner of interaction with users. Eleven systems or platforms, developed from 1996 to 2016, were analyzed. There was a higher frequency of data mining on the web and active crowdsourcing as well as a trend in the use of mobile applications. It is important to provoke debate in the academia and health services for the evolution of methods and insights into participatory surveillance in the digital age.O objetivo deste estudo foi descrever a detecção digital de doenças e vigilância participativa em diferentes países. Os sistemas ou plataformas consolidados no meio científico foram analisados por descrição da estratégia, do tipo de fonte de dados, dos objetivos principais e da forma de interação com os usuários. Foram analisados 11 sistemas ou plataformas, desenvolvidos entre 1996 e 2016. Observou-se maior frequência de mineração de dados na web e crowdsourcing ativo e tendência no uso de aplicativos móveis. É importante provocar o debate nos âmbitos acadêmico e dos serviços de saúde para evolução dos métodos e percepções sobre a vigilância participativa na era digital

Investigação epidemiológica do tétano no Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

The epidemiologic situation of tetanus in Rio Grande do Sul is described, based on the analysis of 136 individual case reports. It was observed that the most important groups to be vaccinated were pregnant women and school-age children. By developing this strategy an 80% reduction of the problem can be achieved over a long period.Descreve-se o comportamento epidemiológico do tétano no Rio Grande do Sul, através da análise de 136 fichas epidemiológicas de pacientes acometidos pela doença em todo o Estado. As gestantes e os escolares foram detectados como os principais grupos populacionais a serem vacinados, reduzindo-se com esta medida, a longo prazo, 80% do problema

El cólera en las Américas en 1991

Incluye BibliografíaSi bien el cólera afectó a las Américas durante gran parte del siglo XIX no es sino hasta 1991 que se produce en el Perú una de las mayores epidemias de cólera de las que se tiene. A fines de septiembre se habían registrado 270.000 casos y 2.577 muertes. Posteriormente, otros 5 países de América del Sur, 3 en Centroamérica y 2 en América del Norte fueron afectados, totalizando 317.000 muertes (p171). Las principales vias de transmisión han sido el agua contaminada, la inadecuada preparación de alimentos, incluyendo la ingesta de mariscos y pescados crudos. La letalidad ha sido baja en todos los países afectados a pesar de que en algunas áreas aisladas fue hasta 8 veces superior a la de ciudades mayores. Aun se requiere de mejorias en el manejo de los casos asi como en la vigilancia epidemiológica

Participatory Disease Surveillance: Engaging Communities Directly in Reporting, Monitoring, and Responding to Health Threats

Background: Since 2012, the International Workshop on Participatory Surveillance (IWOPS) has served as an informal network to share best practices, consult on analytic methods, and catalyze innovation to advance the burgeoning method of direct engagement of populations in voluntary monitoring of disease. Objective: This landscape provides an overview of participatory disease surveillance systems in the IWOPS network and orients readers to this growing field of practice.Methods: Authors reviewed participatory approaches that include human and animal health surveillance, both syndromic (self- reported symptoms) and event-based, and how these tools have been leveraged for disease modeling and forecasting. The authors also discuss benefits, challenges, and future directions for participatory disease surveillance.Results: There are at least 23 distinct participatory surveillance tools or programs represented in the IWOPS network across 18 countries. Organizations supporting these tools are diverse in nature. Conclusions: Participatory disease surveillance is a promising method to complement both traditional, facility-based surveillance and newer digital epidemiology systems

El cólera epidémico en América Latina de 1991 a 1993: implicaciones de las definiciones de casos usadas en la vigilancia sanitaria

En este informe se presentan las diversas definiciones de casos de cólera usadas en los países de América Latina que se han visto afectados por la epidemia; se da el número de casos de cólera y de las defunciones por la enfermedad (según datos notificados a la OPS por los países latinoamericanos en 1993), y se describen algunas tendencias regionales de la incidencia de cólera. La información relacionada con la forma en que se definieron los casos de la enfermedad se obtuvo por medio de un cuestionario administrado por la OPS en octubre de 1993. En total, 948 429 casos de cólera fueron notificados a la OPS entre enero de 1991 y diciembre de 1993 por los países latinoamericanos afectados por la epidemia y las incidencias anuales más altas se registraron en el Perú (1991 y 1992) y Guatemala (1993). La tasa de letalidad para todo el trienio, y también para 1993, fue de 0,8%. La incidencia de cólera mostró una tendencia descendente general en la mayor parte de los países sudamericanos pero aumentó en casi todos los países de Centroamérica. Se observó gran variabilidad en las definiciones aplicadas para notificar casos de cólera, casos de cólera hospitalizados y defunciones atribuibles al cólera. Esta variabilidad dificulta cualquier comparación global entre países (y hasta estimar la carga de morbilidad y evaluar la calidad de la atención sobre la base de las tasas de letalidad), y aun las tendencias notificadas dentro de un mismo país deben evaluarse con cuidado. Es muy probable que en un futuro la situación se complique por la llegada de la cepa Vibrio cholerae 0139 a América Latina, situación que genera la necesidad de distinguir entre ella y la cepa 01, que es la predominante. Para efectos de simplificación y para lograr la amplia aceptación y extensa divulgación de la información sobre los casos, se recomiendan las siguientes definiciones: caso confirmado de cólera 01: infección por V. cholerae 01 toxígeno, confirmada por métodos de laboratorio, en cualquier persona con diarrea. Caso confirmado de cólera 0139: infección confirmada por V. cholerae 0139 toxígeno, confirmada por un laboratorio, en cualquier persona con diarrea. Caso clínico de cólera: diarrea acuosa de carácter agudo en una persona mayor de 5 años que busca tratamiento. Defunción atribuible al cólera: defunción durante la semana inmediatamente posterior al comienzo de la diarrea en una persona con cólera confirmado o diagnosticado según la definición clínica. Paciente hospitalizado con cólera: persona con cólera confirmado o diagnosticado según la definición clínica que pasa un mínimo de 12 horas en un centro de atención para el tratamiento de la enfermedad

Digital disease detection and participatory surveillance: overview and perspectives for Brazil

ABSTRACT This study aimed to describe the digital disease detection and participatory surveillance in different countries. The systems or platforms consolidated in the scientific field were analyzed by describing the strategy, type of data source, main objectives, and manner of interaction with users. Eleven systems or platforms, developed from 1996 to 2016, were analyzed. There was a higher frequency of data mining on the web and active crowdsourcing as well as a trend in the use of mobile applications. It is important to provoke debate in the academia and health services for the evolution of methods and insights into participatory surveillance in the digital age

Using EpiCore to Enable Rapid Verification of Potential Health Threats: Illustrated Use Cases and Summary Statistics

BackgroundThe proliferation of digital disease-detection systems has led to an increase in earlier warning signals, which subsequently have resulted in swifter responses to emerging threats. Such highly sensitive systems can also produce weak signals needing additional information for action. The delays in the response to a genuine health threat are often due to the time it takes to verify a health event. It was the delay in outbreak verification that was the main impetus for creating EpiCore. ObjectiveThis paper describes the potential of crowdsourcing information through EpiCore, a network of voluntary human, animal, and environmental health professionals supporting the verification of early warning signals of potential outbreaks and informing risk assessments by monitoring ongoing threats. MethodsThis paper uses summary statistics to assess whether EpiCore is meeting its goal to accelerate the time to verification of identified potential health events for epidemic and pandemic intelligence purposes from around the world. Data from the EpiCore platform from January 2018 to December 2022 were analyzed to capture request for information response rates and verification rates. Illustrated use cases are provided to describe how EpiCore members provide information to facilitate the verification of early warning signals of potential outbreaks and for the monitoring and risk assessment of ongoing threats through EpiCore and its utilities. ResultsSince its launch in 2016, EpiCore network membership grew to over 3300 individuals during the first 2 years, consisting of professionals in human, animal, and environmental health, spanning 161 countries. The overall EpiCore response rate to requests for information increased by year between 2018 and 2022 from 65.4% to 68.8% with an initial response typically received within 24 hours (in 2022, 94% of responded requests received a first contribution within 24 h). Five illustrated use cases highlight the various uses of EpiCore. ConclusionsAs the global demand for data to facilitate disease prevention and control continues to grow, it will be crucial for traditional and nontraditional methods of disease surveillance to work together to ensure health threats are captured earlier. EpiCore is an innovative approach that can support health authorities in decision-making when used complementarily with official early detection and verification systems. EpiCore can shorten the time to verification by confirming early detection signals, informing risk-assessment activities, and monitoring ongoing events