Information technologies for data collection and processing when establishing determinants of epidemic processes

Abstract

Providing biological safety of population is determined by a current situation with the state sanitary-epidemiologic system and its being ready to detect, localize and eliminate infective episodes. As threats of bioterrorism attacks against people are growing and infectious diseases are becoming more widely spread, it calls for greater efficiency of sanitary-epidemiologic ex-aminations due to optimized collection and processing of data that are necessary for decision making related to revealing basic determinants of an epidemic process, as well as causes and conditions for infection occurrence and spread. The paper dwells on a technology for automated data processing that helps to efficiently reveal all determinants of an epidemic process, and causes and conditions for infection occurrence and spread. The technology also allows automated checking of all proposed hypotheses basing on generalization of results obtained via independent research. Proposed solutions are verified within a sanitary-epidemiologic examination that focused on dysentery episode in an organized team with its members staying on a closed territory and having their meals provided for them at a canteen. The authors compared an already existing system for collection and processing of statistical data (applied to reveal basic determinants of an epidemic process) and a proposed system for data collection and processing. Obtained results supplement and develop existing theoretical and practical achievements as regards IT implementation into sanitary-epidemiologic examinations; they have considerable practical significance especially bearing in mind a future transition to electronic circulation of documents within public healthcare and medical provision. When applied, a proposed approach allows considerable reduction in time spent on generalization of data obtained via sanitary-epidemiologic examinations as well as a significant increase in validity of accomplished statistical calculations necessary to reveal factors that cause infectious agent transmission.

Keywords

• sanitary-epidemiologic examination
• epidemiological analysis
• health risks
• infectious diseases risks
• infection focus
• determinant of en epidemic process
• infectious agent
• evidence-based medicine
• medical information science
• medical cybernetics.