Epidemiological Approaches

The overall aim is to develop robust, evidence-based, patient-oriented epidemiological surveillance systems to enable PHE rapidly to identify and respond to new and emerging infections. This will require an interdisciplinary, One Health approach and the development of a flexible and active network of researchers and policy makers to build a platform for pro-active and reactive responses to novel threats.

 The objectives are to:

1. Examine whether real-time syndromic surveillance and rapid diagnostic approaches currently being assessed in diarrhoeal outbreaks can be applied to other disease syndromes.
2. Determine whether analysing human syndromic surveillance data with novel methodologies for real-time syndromic forecasting, and incorporating relevant information from other disease databases, enhances our surveillance abilities.
3. Investigate the behavioural beliefs and determinants of behaviours to minimise exposures to peridomestic rodents, and to ticks, among at-risk groups.
4. Investigate the role of publically available data on passenger, trade and shipping movements to quantify the risk of a novel (or existing) pathogen with particular transmission characteristics being imported into the UK.
5. Provide a detailed description of population subgroups within the UK at risk of exposure to major zoonotic transmission pathways.
6. Develop the approaches to estimate the current probability of presence of pathogens, given climate and demographic variables, and predict changes in distribution using future forecasts.
7. Use the detailed description of population sub-groups and their exposure risks in preparedness for future outbreaks and strategic planning.
8. Extend the information on importation pathways to other new threats.

Theme Leaders