A Mobile App and Dashboard for Early Detection of Infectious Disease Outbreaks: Development Study

Abstract

Background Outbreaks of infectious diseases pose great risks, including hospitalization and death, to public health. Therefore, improving the management of outbreaks is important for preventing widespread infection and mitigating associated risks. Mobile health technology provides new capabilities that can help better capture, monitor, and manage infectious diseases, including the ability to quickly identify potential outbreaks. Objective This study aims to develop a new infectious disease surveillance (IDS) system comprising a mobile app for accurate data capturing and dashboard for better health care planning and decision making. Methods We developed the IDS system using a 2-pronged approach: a literature review on available and similar disease surveillance systems to understand the fundamental requirements and face-to-face interviews to collect specific user requirements from the local public health unit team at the Nepean Hospital, Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District, New South Wales, Australia. Results We identified 3 fundamental requirements when designing an electronic IDS system, which are the ability to capture and report outbreak data accurately, completely, and in a timely fashion. We then developed our IDS system based on the workflow, scope, and specific requirements of the public health unit team. We also produced detailed design and requirement guidelines. In our system, the outbreak data are captured and sent from anywhere using a mobile device or a desktop PC (web interface). The data are processed using a client-server architecture and, therefore, can be analyzed in real time. Our dashboard is designed to provide a daily, weekly, monthly, and historical summary of outbreak information, which can be potentially used to develop a future intervention plan. Specific information about certain outbreaks can also be visualized interactively to understand the unique characteristics of emerging infectious diseases. Conclusions We demonstrated the design and development of our IDS system. We suggest that the use of a mobile app and dashboard will simplify the overall data collection, reporting, and analysis processes, thereby improving the public health responses and providing accurate registration of outbreak information. Accurate data reporting and collection are a major step forward in creating a better intervention plan for future outbreaks of infectious diseases.

A Mobile App Leveraging Citizenship Engagement to Perform Anonymized Longitudinal Studies in the Context of COVID-19 Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring: Development and Usability Study

“…Initiative Web-Recognising Adverse Drug Reactions (WEB-RADR) project, reported in a recent paper [46], suggest that the patient's increased interest in improving knowledge about drug safety, combined with recent technological advances in information communication, make it possible to improve Over the past few years, studies have increasingly focused on the development and usage of mobile apps as additional tools to pharmacovigilance for improving and facilitating reporting of ADRs, as reported by Defer et al [47], Ahn et al [48], Prakash et al [49], Montastruc et al [50], and de Vries et al [51]. Indeed, in contrast to classical surveillance systems, mobile devices offer a platform for improving the accessibility of data and increasing the speed at which they are transmitted between institutions.…”

“…Over the past few years, studies have increasingly focused on the development and usage of mobile apps as additional tools to pharmacovigilance for improving and facilitating reporting of ADRs, as reported by Defer et al [ 47 ], Ahn et al [ 48 ], Prakash et al [ 49 ], Montastruc et al [ 50 ], and de Vries et al [ 51 ]. Indeed, in contrast to classical surveillance systems, mobile devices offer a platform for improving the accessibility of data and increasing the speed at which they are transmitted between institutions.…”

“…Another available tool is presented by Ahn et al [ 48 ], where the system design is accurately presented as consisting of a mobile app, a cloud server, and a dashboard. Patients’ data on symptoms and vaccination are captured using a mobile device or a web interface and then sent to the cloud server.…”

Mpox-AISM: AI-mediated super monitoring for mpox and like-mpox

“…Research shows that mHealth technology can assist people in better detecting, monitoring, and managing infectious diseases, thus facilitating the rapid identification of potential epidemics. 26 The WHO defines mHealth as the medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices. Statistical data reveal that approximately 2.5 billion individuals globally possess smartphones, and about 4.9 billion individuals have access to the Internet.…”

Primary Care Physicians’ and Patients’ Perspectives on Equity and Health Security of Infectious Disease Digital Surveillance

“…T he coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic re-exposed the weaknesses of the conventional infectious diseases (ID) reporting approach observed with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. 1 Multiple levels of reporting and incomplete responses drove the rapid development of digital detection surveillance (DDS) systems to quickly collect, interpret, and respond to outbreaks in countries like China. 2 The World Health Organization (WHO) has prioritized health security in responses to public health threats, while strengthening the capacity for public health surveillance and response, to minimize the impact on people's health across geographical regions and international boundaries.…”