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Abstract:
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Throughout history, the human race has periodically been ravaged by disease. One of the most extreme examples is the Bubonic or Black Death plague pandemic of the 12th century that originated in Central Asia and by some estimates killed 60% of Europe's population. Seeking to avoid pandemics, where the threat of bioterrorism today makes timely and effective disease surveillance as much a national security priority as a public health priority, public health agencies conduct disease surveillance by actively gathering and analyzing human health and disease data. The two main aspects of disease surveillance are (1) early event detection, and (2) situational awareness, and statistical methods have played and continue to play an important role in both. In this roundtable, we will discuss recent advances in statistical methods for disease surveillance as well as the ongoing research and implementation challenges.
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