Applying internet health information to epidemiologocal surveillance through digital epidemiology: a review

Abstract

Digital epidemiology is a newly emerging research field in the context of the digital age. It provides a method for epidemiologocal surveillance using internet health information, which can detect outbreaks and issue early warnings earlier than traditional epidemic monitoring methods and has the potential to accelerate the monitoring speed of epidemic outbreaks and improve the monitoring efficiency. The World Health Organization (WHO) and its Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) have integrated digital epidemiology reports and used them to assist in global health security monitoring. The development of digital epidemiology in developed countries in Europe and America is relatively mature and has accumulated a wealth of practical experience. This article provided a detailed overview of the data processing flow, application context, and potential challenges of digital epidemiology in monitoring epidemics using internet health information, as a reference for relevant research and applications in China's digital epidemiology.

Keywords

• digital epidemiology
• internet health information
• monitoring
• early warning
• big data