Syndromic surveillance and its utilisation for mass gatherings.

A.C Berry

doi:10.1017/s0950268818001735

Abstract

Tremendous advancements in syndromic surveillance strategies over the last two decades, and specifically from prior mass gatherings, have been incorporated into day-to-day healthcare analysis worldwide and have left a lasting indirect impact since their inception. Mass gatherings are a daily occurrence worldwide and provide a scenario ripe for public health aims and objectives utilising syndromic surveillance. Europe is less than a decade away from hosting a colossal worldwide gathering (2024 Summer Olympics) in likely a time when the global agreement is in flux. A call to arms is needed for additional surveillance strategies incorporating mobile application symptom checker data, telemedicine, social media and social data sensing. There remains a need for an optimal combination of real-time data sensing that captures the whole population, but to reach that goal we must incorporate new advancements into baseline epidemiologic data monitoring, otherwise we will be tracking real-time mass gathering events on top of inaccurate baseline epidemiologic data.

Highlights

Tremendous advancements in syndromic surveillance strategies over the last two decades, and from prior mass gatherings, have been incorporated into day-to-day healthcare analysis worldwide and have left a lasting indirect impact since their inception
Syndromic surveillance has been utilised in many mass gatherings to date
Syndromic surveillance has been successfully operated during worldwide sporting events, such as the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, and at the 2015 Los Angeles Special Olympic World Games [1,2,3,4]

Summary

Introduction

Tremendous advancements in syndromic surveillance strategies over the last two decades, and from prior mass gatherings, have been incorporated into day-to-day healthcare analysis worldwide and have left a lasting indirect impact since their inception. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, combined with the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) implemented a syndromic surveillance system in local emergency rooms to (1) help identify a potential secondary large-scale bioterrorist event and (2) identify local health conditions related to the initial attacks [6].

Results

Conclusion