Global Infectious Disease Surveillance and Detection: Assessing the Challenges, Finding Solutions—Workshop Summary (2007)
The surveillance and early detection of diseases is critical to the control of both naturally occurring and intentionally dispersed infectious diseases. As different parts of the world become more connected and disease is able to spread more easily through transient humans, animals, and plants, global disease surveillance systems are increasingly vital to maintaining global health. One of the biggest challenges to creating a comprehensive disease surveillance system is gathering information in developing countries that lack the tools and infrastructure needed for traditional disease detection and diagnosis. In December 2006, the Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Microbial Threats hosted a workshop to examine these issues and explore possible ways in which to improve global disease surveillance. Global Infectious Disease Surveillance and Detection summarizes this workshop, in which participants examined current and emerging methods of infectious disease surveillance and detection and discussed opportunities for new tools and methods that could be used in disease reporting and diagnosis.
Related Reports
- BioWatch and Public Health Surveillance: Evaluating Systems for the Early Detection of Biological Threats—Abbreviated Version, Summary
- Effectiveness of National Biosurveillance Systems: BioWatch and the Public Health System—Interim Report
- Infectious Disease Movement in a Borderless World—Workshop Summary
