The World Health Organization's Disease Outbreak News: A retrospective database.

The World Health Organization (WHO) notifies the global community about disease outbreaks through the Disease Outbreak News (DON). These online reports tell important stories about both outbreaks themselves and the high-level decision making that governs information sharing during public health emer...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Colin J Carlson, Matthew R Boyce, Margaret Dunne, Ellie Graeden, Jessica Lin, Yasser Omar Abdellatif, Max A Palys, Munir Pavez, Alexandra L Phelan, Rebecca Katz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023-01-01
Series:PLOS Global Public Health
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001083
_version_ 1797695595130912768
author Colin J Carlson
Matthew R Boyce
Margaret Dunne
Ellie Graeden
Jessica Lin
Yasser Omar Abdellatif
Max A Palys
Munir Pavez
Alexandra L Phelan
Rebecca Katz
author_facet Colin J Carlson
Matthew R Boyce
Margaret Dunne
Ellie Graeden
Jessica Lin
Yasser Omar Abdellatif
Max A Palys
Munir Pavez
Alexandra L Phelan
Rebecca Katz
author_sort Colin J Carlson
collection DOAJ
description The World Health Organization (WHO) notifies the global community about disease outbreaks through the Disease Outbreak News (DON). These online reports tell important stories about both outbreaks themselves and the high-level decision making that governs information sharing during public health emergencies. However, they have been used only minimally in global health scholarship to date. Here, we collate all 2,789 of these reports from their first use through the start of the Covid-19 pandemic (January 1996 to December 2019), and develop an annotated database of the subjective and often inconsistent information they contain. We find that these reports are dominated by a mix of persistent worldwide threats (particularly influenza and cholera) and persistent epidemics (like Ebola virus disease in Africa or MERS-CoV in the Middle East), but also document important periods in history like the anthrax bioterrorist attacks at the turn of the century, the spread of chikungunya and Zika virus to the Americas, or even recent lapses in progress towards polio elimination. We present three simple vignettes that show how researchers can use these data to answer both qualitative and quantitative questions about global outbreak dynamics and public health response. However, we also find that the retrospective value of these reports is visibly limited by inconsistent reporting (e.g., of disease names, case totals, mortality, and actions taken to curtail spread). We conclude that sharing a transparent rubric for which outbreaks are considered reportable, and adopting more standardized formats for sharing epidemiological metadata, might help make the DON more useful to researchers and policymakers.
first_indexed 2024-03-12T03:14:34Z
format Article
id doaj.art-dd3f9798afa6466c9daa57d423c916c2
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2767-3375
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-12T03:14:34Z
publishDate 2023-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLOS Global Public Health
spelling doaj.art-dd3f9798afa6466c9daa57d423c916c22023-09-03T14:12:44ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLOS Global Public Health2767-33752023-01-0131e000108310.1371/journal.pgph.0001083The World Health Organization's Disease Outbreak News: A retrospective database.Colin J CarlsonMatthew R BoyceMargaret DunneEllie GraedenJessica LinYasser Omar AbdellatifMax A PalysMunir PavezAlexandra L PhelanRebecca KatzThe World Health Organization (WHO) notifies the global community about disease outbreaks through the Disease Outbreak News (DON). These online reports tell important stories about both outbreaks themselves and the high-level decision making that governs information sharing during public health emergencies. However, they have been used only minimally in global health scholarship to date. Here, we collate all 2,789 of these reports from their first use through the start of the Covid-19 pandemic (January 1996 to December 2019), and develop an annotated database of the subjective and often inconsistent information they contain. We find that these reports are dominated by a mix of persistent worldwide threats (particularly influenza and cholera) and persistent epidemics (like Ebola virus disease in Africa or MERS-CoV in the Middle East), but also document important periods in history like the anthrax bioterrorist attacks at the turn of the century, the spread of chikungunya and Zika virus to the Americas, or even recent lapses in progress towards polio elimination. We present three simple vignettes that show how researchers can use these data to answer both qualitative and quantitative questions about global outbreak dynamics and public health response. However, we also find that the retrospective value of these reports is visibly limited by inconsistent reporting (e.g., of disease names, case totals, mortality, and actions taken to curtail spread). We conclude that sharing a transparent rubric for which outbreaks are considered reportable, and adopting more standardized formats for sharing epidemiological metadata, might help make the DON more useful to researchers and policymakers.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001083
spellingShingle Colin J Carlson
Matthew R Boyce
Margaret Dunne
Ellie Graeden
Jessica Lin
Yasser Omar Abdellatif
Max A Palys
Munir Pavez
Alexandra L Phelan
Rebecca Katz
The World Health Organization's Disease Outbreak News: A retrospective database.
PLOS Global Public Health
title The World Health Organization's Disease Outbreak News: A retrospective database.
title_full The World Health Organization's Disease Outbreak News: A retrospective database.
title_fullStr The World Health Organization's Disease Outbreak News: A retrospective database.
title_full_unstemmed The World Health Organization's Disease Outbreak News: A retrospective database.
title_short The World Health Organization's Disease Outbreak News: A retrospective database.
title_sort world health organization s disease outbreak news a retrospective database
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001083
work_keys_str_mv AT colinjcarlson theworldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT matthewrboyce theworldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT margaretdunne theworldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT elliegraeden theworldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT jessicalin theworldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT yasseromarabdellatif theworldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT maxapalys theworldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT munirpavez theworldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT alexandralphelan theworldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT rebeccakatz theworldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT colinjcarlson worldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT matthewrboyce worldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT margaretdunne worldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT elliegraeden worldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT jessicalin worldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT yasseromarabdellatif worldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT maxapalys worldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT munirpavez worldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT alexandralphelan worldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase
AT rebeccakatz worldhealthorganizationsdiseaseoutbreaknewsaretrospectivedatabase