Towards Global Biopathogens Surveillance System

Public health surveillance is the continuous, systematic collection, analysis and interpretation of health-related data needed for the planning, implementation, and evaluation of public health practice according to World Health Organization. Major part of this surveillance is dedicated to identifying biological pathogens that can pose serious threat to humanity, such as antimicrobial resistance. Yet, such systems are not developed to the point where emerging infectious threats can be better anticipated. Moreover,pathogens often spread undetected for some time before being diagnosed in a population.

Many sources of pathogens were studied before, including hospitals or life stock farms, however, little is known about urban environments and mass-transit systems, which have been shown to have distinct genetic profiles and might play role in pathogens transfer.

Here we will discuss the challenges of building global genetic map of microorganisms and their antimicrobial resistance in the built human environment with respect to data analysis and provenance.

Presentation (lecture)