In the past 15 years, public health surveillance has undergone a revolution driven by advances in information technology (IT) with vast improvements in the collection, analysis, visualization, and reporting of health data. Mobile technologies and open source software have played a key role in advancing surveillance techniques, particularly in resource-limited settings. Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) is an internationally recognized leader in the area of electronic disease surveillance.

Infectious diseases present with multifarious factors requiring several efforts to detect, prevent, and break the chain of transmission. Recently, machine learning has shown to be promising for automated surveillance leading to rapid and early interventions, and extraction of phenotypic features of human faces. In addition, mobile devices have become a promising tool to provide on-the-ground surveillance, especially in remote areas and geolocation mapping.

After the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense indicated œbiodefense would include emerging infectious disease. In response, DTRA launched an initiative for an innovative, rapidly emerging capability to enable real-time biosurveillance for early warning and course of action analysis. Through competitive prototyping, DTRA selected Digital Infuzion to develop the platform and next generation analytics.

In recent years, mosquito-borne diseases such as Zika, chikungunya, and dengue have become particularly problematic due to global climate change. Rising temperatures and changes in precipitation are considered to be associated with habitat suitability of mosquito vectors and viruses. To address such cross-border infectious diseases, countries have come up with various strategies to control and manage mosquito-borne diseases. In line with this, international efforts have been made to minimize the burden of global infectious diseases.