Abstract
Over the past decades, computerised national and multi-national surveillance systems for infectious diseases have grown in importance and versatility. A common feature of such systems is the large quantity of data they generate, hence the need for a degree of automation involving more formal statistical approaches. However, while considerable methodological advances have been made in the detection of temporal clusters of disease, rather less attention has been devoted to the statistical issues involved in the prospective detection of outbreaks.
In this paper we discuss some of the methodological problems of prospective outbreak detection, and review some of the statistical methods which have been developed or may be adapted for this purpose. We conclude that automated detection systems can provide a ‘safety net’ which supplements, but cannot replace, other methods of surveillance, and emphasize the need for close inter-disciplinary collaboration.
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© 1998 B. G. Teubner Verlagsgesellschaft Leipzig
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Farrington, C.P., Beale, A.D. (1998). The Detection of Outbreaks of Infectious Disease. In: Gierl, L., Cliff, A.D., Valleron, AJ., Farrington, P., Bull, M. (eds) Geomed ’97. Informatik und Unternehmensführung. Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-95397-1_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-322-95397-1_7
Publisher Name: Vieweg+Teubner Verlag, Wiesbaden
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