Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Mar;19(2):140-144.
doi: 10.7861/clinmedicine.19-2-140.

Outbreak science: recent progress in the detection and response to outbreaks of infectious diseases

Catherine F Houlihan  1 , James Ag Whitworth  2
Affiliations

Outbreak science: recent progress in the detection and response to outbreaks of infectious diseases

Catherine F Houlihan et al. Clin Med (Lond). 2019 Mar.

Abstract

The frequency of reported outbreaks of infectious diseases has increased over the past 3 decades, with predictions that this rise will continue. Outbreak response continues to follow nine basic principles: establish the presence of an outbreak, verify the diagnosis, make a case definition, find cases and contacts, conduct basic epidemiology, test hypotheses, institute control measures, communicate the situation and establish ongoing surveillance. Within each of these areas, significant advances have been made over the past 5 years using progress in digital, laboratory, epidemiology and anthropological equipment or techniques. Irrespective of these, future outbreaks of high-consequence are inevitable, and vigilance and preparation must continue in order to prevent significant mortality, morbidity and socio-economic crisis.

Keywords: Outbreak; global health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig 1.
Fig 1.
Condensed summary of the epidemiology principles for outbreak response summarising scientific progress made in the recent past (below in teal) and future possibilities (above in blue). PCR = polymerase chain reaction; PPE = personal protective equipment; RDT = rapid diagnostic test (should be sensitive, specific, heat-stable, cheap, simple to use, electricity-free and disposable). Note: the nine outbreak steps have been condensed to seven for space.
Fig 2.
Fig 2.
(a) Map of cholera cases in Soho district of London in 1854 illustrating clustering of cases around the Broad Street pump. (b) Spread of Ebola through west Africa over time in 2014–15 based on phylogenetic tree (in Fig 2c). Lineage A is the initial focus of the outbreak from 2014. Lineage B emerged from A in 2014–15 and spread into Sierra Leone, Liberia and further into Guinea. EBOV entered Mali from two separate routes. (c) Phylogenetic probability tree illustrating EBOV lineages A and B as they emerge over time and geographical location in west Africa. Reproduced with permission from www.nature.com/articles/nature14594
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Al-garadi MA, Khan MS, Varathan KD, Mujtaba G, Al-Kabsi AM. Using online social networks to track a pandemic: A systematic review. J Biomed Inform 2016;62:1–11. - PubMed
    1. Brownstein JS, Freifeld CC. HealthMap: the development of automated real-time internet surveillance for epidemic intelligence. Wkly releases 2007;12:3322. - PubMed
    1. eHealth Africa Public emergency management disease surveillance – case study – Auto-Visual AFP Detection and Reporting (AVADAR). eHealth Africa www.ehealthafrica.org/avadar.
    1. Calba C, Goutard FL, Hoinville L, et al. Surveillance systems evaluation: a systematic review of the existing approaches. BMC Public Health 2015;15:448. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Grard G, Fair JN, Lee D, et al. A novel rhabdovirus associated with acute hemorrhagic fever in central Africa. PLoS Pathog 2012;8:e1002924. - PMC - PubMed