Book description
An up-to-date and comprehensive treatment of biosurveillance techniques
With the worldwide awareness of bioterrorism and drug-resistant
infectious diseases, the need for surveillance systems to accurately
detect emerging epidemicsis essential for maintaining global safety.
Responding to these issues, Disease Surveillance brings together
fifteen eminent researchers in the fields of medicine, epidemiology,
biostatistics, and medical informatics to define the necessary
elements of an effective disease surveillance program, including
research, development, implementation, and operations. The
surveillance systems and techniques presented in the text are designed
to best utilize modern technology, manage emerging public health
threats, and adapt to environmental changes.
Following a historical overview detailing the need for disease
surveillance systems, the text is divided into the following three parts:
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Part One sets forth the informatics knowledge needed to
implement a disease surveillance system, including a discussion
of data sources currently used in syndromic surveillance systems.
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Part Two provides case studies of modern disease surveillance
systems, including cases that highlight implementation and
operational difficulties as well as the successes experienced by
health departments in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia.
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Part Three addresses practical issues concerning the evaluation
of disease surveillance systems and the education of future
informatics and disease surveillance practitioners. It also
assesses how future technology will shape the field of disease surveillance.
This book's multidisciplinary approach is ideal for public health
professionals who need to understand all the facets within a disease
surveillance program and implement the technology needed to support
surveillance activities. An outline of the components needed for a
successful disease surveillance system combined with extensive use of
case studies makes this book well-suited as a textbook for public
health informatics courses
Joseph S. Lombardo, MS, is Program Manager for Bio
Information Systems in the National Security Technology Department at
The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He is the
Director of the JHU/APL Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics.
David L. Buckeridge, MD, PhD, is Assistant Professor and a
Canadian Research Chair in the Department of Epidemiology,
Biostatistics, and Occupational Health at McGill University. His
research interests include public health informatics and surveillance
systems, outbreak simulation, and the influence of surveillance
information on decision-making in public health.
