Abstract
BackgroundProtection of public health from rabies is informed by the analysis of surveillance data from human and animal populations. In Canada, public health, agricultural and wildlife agencies at the provincial and federal level are responsible for rabies disease control, and this has led to multiple agency-specific data repositories. Aggregation of agency-specific data into one database application would enable more comprehensive data analyses and effective communication among participating agencies. In Québec, RageDB was developed to house surveillance data for the raccoon rabies variant, representing the next generation in web-based database applications that provide a key resource for the protection of public health.ResultsRageDB incorporates data from, and grants access to, all agencies responsible for the surveillance of raccoon rabies in Québec. Technological advancements of RageDB to rabies surveillance databases include 1) automatic integration of multi-agency data and diagnostic results on a daily basis; 2) a web-based data editing interface that enables authorized users to add, edit and extract data; and 3) an interactive dashboard to help visualize data simply and efficiently, in table, chart, and cartographic formats. Furthermore, RageDB stores data from citizens who voluntarily report sightings of rabies suspect animals. We also discuss how sightings data can indicate public perception to the risk of racoon rabies and thus aid in directing the allocation of disease control resources for protecting public health.ConclusionsRageDB provides an example in the evolution of spatio-temporal database applications for the storage, analysis and communication of disease surveillance data. The database was fast and inexpensive to develop by using open-source technologies, simple and efficient design strategies, and shared web hosting. The database increases communication among agencies collaborating to protect human health from raccoon rabies. Furthermore, health agencies have real-time access to a wide assortment of data documenting new developments in the raccoon rabies epidemic and this enables a more timely and appropriate response.
Highlights
Protection of public health from rabies is informed by the analysis of surveillance data from human and animal populations
PDI scripts are used to regularly backup the database to a remote location managed by the Groupe de recherche en épidémiologie des zoonoses et santé publique (GREZOSP), Université de Montréal in addition to the database’s own daily backup. -Data Validation Data validation was critical for building RageDB to contend with the circumstance of combining data from multiple agencies that differed in their data management protocols
In addition to the normal data integrity constraints provided by the relational database management system, all data validation rules were implemented as small subroutines within the SQL Server
Summary
Multi-agency Foundation of RageDB The Raccoon Rabies Scientific Committee is multi-sectorial and interdisciplinary. In addition to the normal data integrity constraints provided by the relational database management system, all data validation rules were implemented as small subroutines (called stored procedures) within the SQL Server This advantageously eliminates the possibility of having an external process bypassing the validation rules. -Benefits for Including Data from Citizen Notifications Citizens in Québec are encouraged to report wild or domestic animals suspected of having rabies because This is the most effective surveillance method for detecting rabid animals [12]. The success of RageDB for aiding management and research of raccoon rabies in Québec has initiated the MRNF, in partnership with the CQSAS, to develop a database for housing surveillance data from all wildlife diseases monitored in Québec. RageDB’s data integration and storage architecture, and facilities for querying, summarising and mapping data are being used to guide the development of future wildlife disease databases
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