A Spatio-temporal Methodology for Real-time Biosurveillance

Abstract

In this paper we introduce a new spatio-temporal methodology for biosurveillance entitled the Repeated Two-sample Rank (RTR) procedure. It is designed to sequentially incorporate information from individual observations and thus can operate on data in real-time as it arrives into an automated biosurveillance system. In addition, upon a signal of a possible outbreak, the methodology suggests a way to graphically indicate the likely outbreak location, and the output can subsequently be used to track the spread of an outbreak. Thus, the methodology can be used for both early event detection and situational awareness in automated biosurveillance systems.