Tools for Today’s Epidemiologist

Tools for today’s epidemiologist must conform to a new standard.  Public health informatics has the potential to improve the outcome of public health and safety.  Recent events such as earthquakes, the H1N1 flu pandemic, hurricanes, and tsunamis demonstrate the growing need for efficient and effective tools for public heath and safety.  In the post “911” and Anthrax event era, we have seen how rapidly our world can change.  Natural boundaries such as oceans, mountains, and distance cannot give us the assurance that we have adequate time to prepare and implement appropriate countermeasures against an epidemic.  As our world become more crowded, the magnitude of each incident grows exponentially.  An epidemic in a small village might have affected a few hundred, but now an epidemic in a lager city could affect hundreds of thousands.  So, what are the characteristics of tools needed by today’s epidemiologists?  Here are some personal thoughts about the tools needed by today’s epidemiologists.  

First, tools must be deployed quickly.  In a rapidly evolving outbreak, epidemiologists will not have weeks to develop surveys, conduct analysis, and search for appropriate countermeasures.  Outbreak detection through a public health surveillance system is the first step to deploying appropriate countermeasures.  Ongoing disease surveillance and monitoring requires robust tools that can be customized quickly to accommodate changing events and characteristics without necessitating a skilled programmer to implement the change.  To meet these challenges, public health professionals must turn to tools with specific characteristics of rapid deployment, flexibility, ease of use, and accuracy.  Epidemiologists need to be in action when there is an epidemic or the high probability an epidemic will develop.

Second, tools need to be flexible in the data types, order, and amounts of data gathered so data is pertinent to the emerging situation.  If the surveillance system is unified with analysis and countermeasure systems, some of the needed data may have already been collected, saving valuable time.  Rapid action will be one of the keys to saving lives and minimizing the cost of emerging epidemics. 

The tools must ensure the data is accurate and can be expressed in understandable terms making it clear what steps need to be taken (When, where, and how countermeasures should be employed).  This third element means more than just collecting and analyzing data, it means getting the data to the people who can put it to use.  Using an inferential statistic to tell state and local officials where they need to deploy their strategic pharmaceutical stockpile would be an example of getting the right data to the right people.  Advising local health departments when and where to start vaccination programs is another example of getting the right data to the people best able to use it. 

The fourth and final element of tools for today’s epidemiologist is determining how practical the data is in the field.  Having data that recommends deploying strategic pharmaceutical stockpiles to a specific area is meaningless unless you have the pharmaceutical stockpiles and ways to transport them to where they are needed.  Practical action is the difference of being on the football field and making the winning touchdown and being in the stands and screaming, “go, go, go.”

Epi Info was conceived and initially developed in a different time.  A time when some epidemiologist could set at their desk and analyze data from an exotic outbreaks of Ebola or Dengue Fever halfway around the world.  Epidemiologist could marvel at how well the vaccines are eradicating smallpox, polio, and other diseases.  Today we are faced with a new reality.  Antibiotic resistant strains of disease and lack of effective vaccines threaten to upset our ideal of a perfect disease free world.  The threat of biological and chemical agents being released into our environment strengthens the argument for better more efficient tools.  Now is the time for improved tools for epidemiologists.  Tools that will integrate outbreak management, data analysis, and countermeasure response.  Tools that are quickly and easily learned and customizable.  The potential for all these features are found in Epi Info^TM.  Over its many years of public heath use, Epi Info^TM has demonstrated this potential.  The Epi Info^TM Team is working to make Epi Info^TM the tool of choice for today, tomorrow, and in years to come. 

Community feedback is important as we improve of the Epi Info^TM “Roadmap,” so post your comments and ideas.