Global disease surveillance platform, and corresponding system and method

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for identifying and assessing public health events, and a corresponding system and apparatus, includes capturing public health-related information from structured and unstructured sources, where the information is contained in one or more documents, extracting meta-data from the captured public health-related information, creating an index of the extracted meta-data; archiving the meta-data and the documents, where the index links meta-data to its associated document, processing the extracted meta-data according to one or more detection algorithms to determine if an anomaly exists, and where an anomaly exists, providing a public health event notification, and monitoring and evaluating the responses to the public health events.

1 . A method, implemented on a computing device, for identifying and assessing public health events, and for monitoring and evaluating responses to those events, comprising:
 capturing public health-related information from both structured and unstructured sources, wherein the information is contained in one or more information sources;   extracting meta-data from the one or more sources;   creating an index of the extracted meta-data; and   archiving the meta-data and the sources, wherein the index links meta-data to its associated information source.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 processing the extracted meta-data according to one or more automatic detection algorithms to determine if an anomaly exists; and   where an anomaly exists, providing a public health event notification.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining if manual processing of the meta-data and the sources are required. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining if existing algorithms are adequate for analysis; and   if not adequate, modifying an existing algorithm or creating a new algorithm.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising verifying the new or the modified algorithm before issuing the public health event notice. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising providing modeling parameters as reference information for the one or more detection algorithms. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein processing the extracted meta-data comprises establishing a collaborative team room, wherein users may contribute information and analyzes related to a public health event. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the issuing the public health event notification step comprises invoking a triage algorithm for the notification. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the notification step is executed automatically according to an alerting algorithm. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising verifying the a public health event is credible. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein if the public health event is credible, the method further comprises characterizing the public health event. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein monitoring a response to a public health event comprises:
 displaying the meta-data and related analysis results on a temporal and geo-spatial display; and   retrieving additional information sources related to the public health event, wherein a computer-based search for the additional information sources is based on the extracted meta-data.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 creating a collaborative meeting room;   populating the collaborative meeting room with the information sources and the additional information sources; and   making the collaborative meeting room accessible to specific public health professionals.   
     
     
         14 . A global disease surveillance platform, comprising:
 a platform processor, wherein potential public health events are identified, determined, analyzed, and wherein responses to the public health events are monitored;   an interface coupled to the platform processor, wherein the interface receives external information feeds comprising structured and unstructured data, and wherein meta-data are extracted from the structured and unstructured data, indexed, and related back to the structured and unstructured data;   an external services module that provides services to facilitate the responses; and   a storage device, wherein meta-data from the structured and unstructured data, and the structured and unstructured data are stored.   
     
     
         15 . The platform of  claim 14 , wherein the external services comprise geo-spatial services. 
     
     
         16 . The platform of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 a data transformation module that transforms data from the structured and unstructured data sources into a schema consistent with a schema of the platform;   a processing component coupled to the interface, comprising:
 analysis algorithms, the analysis algorithms applied to the meta-data, 
 an alert module, wherein when a threshold, as indicated by application of the algorithms the meta-data is exceeded, a public health alert is sounded, 
 a data fusion module that identifies, evaluates, tags, and correlates the structured and the unstructured data, and the corresponding meta-data to produce a data file related to a specific public health event, and 
 access modules that operate to allow real-time access to the data file, wherein a response to the public health event is managed from pre-planning, detection, and response. 
   
     
     
         17 . An apparatus for managing phases of a public health event, the apparatus including one or more suitably programmed computing devices, the apparatus comprising:
 an interface that receives structured and unstructured data from one or more external data sources, the interface, comprising:
 a data transformation module that transforms data from the structured and unstructured data sources into a schema consistent with a schema of the apparatus, and 
 a data classification module that that extracts meta-data related to the structured and unstructured data and creates an index of the meta-data back to the meta data's structured or unstructured data; 
   a data store coupled to the interface, wherein the indexed meta-data and the structured and unstructured data are stored;   a processing component coupled to the interface, comprising:
 analysis algorithms, the analysis algorithms applied to the meta-data, 
 an alert module, wherein when a threshold, as indicated by application of the algorithms to the meta-data is exceeded, a public health alert is sounded, and 
 access modules that operate to allow real-time access to the structured and unstructured data, and to the corresponding meta-data, wherein a response to the public health event is managed from pre-planning, identification, detection, and response. 
   
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , further comprising external services coupled to the processing component, wherein the processing component receives geo-spatial information and wherein the processing component operates to populate one or more geo-spatial products with the extracted meta-data, wherein the populated geo-spatial products provide visual and temporal displays of progress of the public health event, including indications of populations at risk from the public health event, and wherein the geo-spatial products allow monitoring of effectiveness of response actions. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the populated geo-spatial products further provide visual indication of locations of public health response assets. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , further comprising notification modules that operate to provide the alert to one or more users of the apparatus. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 20 , wherein the notification module incorporates a triage algorithm for notification of the users. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the index provides retrieval of structured and unstructured data, corresponding to the indexed meta-data, from the data store, for further analysis. 
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the algorithms comprise means for back tracking from a current status of a public health event to locate a source and time of first occurrence of the event. 
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , further comprising a virtual meeting room, wherein analysis of the public health event-related data are displayed and information related to the public health event are received from users of the apparatus. 
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , further comprising means for modifying existing analysis algorithms and creating new analysis algorithms. 
     
     
         26 . A method for managing a response to a public health event during an entire life cycle of the event, the method executed on one or more computing devices, the method comprising:
 receiving information contained in one or more structured and unstructured data sources;   initially processing the information, comprising:
 extracting meta-data from the data sources, wherein the meta-data are linked to their corresponding data source, 
 transforming the extracted meta-data, 
 classifying the transformed meta-data, and 
 storing the indexed meta-data and their corresponding data source, wherein the index allows retrieval of the corresponding data source; and 
   analyzing the meta-data to determine if a threshold value indicative of a public health event has been exceeded, wherein if the threshold has been exceeded,
 providing an initial public health event alert, and 
 continuing to collect, process, and analyze information to allow management of the response. 
   
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising:
 applying one or more detection algorithms to the meta-data to determine the extent of the public health event and to prepare and subsequently manage the response to the public health event; and   archiving information related to the public health event.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the pubic health event is one of acute, mild, and chronic conditions, wherein the public health event affects one or more of humans, animals, and the environment, and wherein the public health event is caused by one or more of natural, technological, man-made, and bio-terrorism mechanism.