Scotch Matthew, Baarson Brittany, Beard Rachel, Lauder Robert, Varman Aarthi, Halden Rolf U
Center for Environmental Security, Biodesign Institute and Security and Defense Systems Initiative, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5904, United States.
J Med Internet Res. 2013 Apr 26;15(4):e90. doi: 10.2196/jmir.2487.
Zoonotic viruses are infectious organisms transmittable between animals and humans. Agencies of public health, agriculture, and wildlife conduct surveillance of zoonotic viruses and often report data on their websites. However, the format and characteristics of these data are not known.
To describe and compare the format and characteristics of statistics of zoonotic viruses on state public health, agriculture, and wildlife agency websites.
For each state, we considered the websites of that state's public health, agriculture, and wildlife agency. For each website, we noted the presence of any statistics for zoonotic viruses from 2000-2012. We analyzed the data using numerous categories including type of statistic, temporal and geographic level of detail, and format. We prioritized our analysis within each category based on assumptions of individuals' preferences for extracting and analyzing data from websites. Thus, if two types of data (such as city and state-level) were present for a given virus in a given year, we counted the one with higher priority (city). External links from agency sites to other websites were not considered.
From 2000-2012, state health departments had the most extensive virus data, followed by agriculture, and then wildlife. We focused on the seven viruses that were common across the three agencies. These included rabies, West Nile virus, eastern equine encephalitis, St. Louis encephalitis, western equine encephalitis, influenza, and dengue fever. Simple numerical totals were most often used to report the data (89% for public health, 81% for agriculture, and 82% for wildlife), and proportions were not different (chi-square P=.15). Public health data were most often presented yearly (66%), while agriculture and wildlife agencies often described cases as they occurred (Fisher's Exact test P<.001). Regarding format, public health agencies had more downloadable PDF files (68%), while agriculture (61%) and wildlife agencies (46%) presented data directly in the text of the HTML webpage (Fisher's Exact test P<.001). Demographics and other information including age, gender, and host were limited. Finally, a Fisher's Exact test showed no association between geography data and agency type (P=.08). However, it was noted that agriculture department data was often at the county level (63%), while public health was mixed between county (38%) and state (35%).
This study focused on the format and characteristics of statistics of zoonotic viruses on websites of state public health, wildlife, and agriculture agencies in the context of population health surveillance. Data on zoonotic viruses varied across agencies presenting challenges for researchers needing to integrate animal and human data from different websites.
人畜共患病毒是可在动物和人类之间传播的传染性生物体。公共卫生、农业和野生动物机构对人畜共患病毒进行监测，并经常在其网站上报告数据。然而，这些数据的格式和特征尚不清楚。
描述和比较州公共卫生、农业和野生动物机构网站上人畜共患病毒统计数据的格式和特征。
对于每个州，我们考虑该州公共卫生、农业和野生动物机构的网站。对于每个网站，我们记录了2000年至2012年期间是否存在人畜共患病毒的任何统计数据。我们使用众多类别分析数据，包括统计类型、时间和地理详细程度以及格式。我们根据个人从网站提取和分析数据的偏好假设，在每个类别中确定分析的优先级。因此，如果给定年份中给定病毒存在两种数据类型（如城市和州级），我们计算优先级较高的那种（城市）。未考虑机构网站到其他网站的外部链接。
2000年至2012年期间，州卫生部门拥有最广泛的病毒数据，其次是农业部门，然后是野生动物部门。我们重点关注了三个机构中都常见的七种病毒。这些包括狂犬病、西尼罗河病毒、东部马脑炎、圣路易斯脑炎、西部马脑炎、流感和登革热。数据报告最常使用简单的数字总计（公共卫生部门为89%，农业部门为81%，野生动物部门为82%），比例无差异（卡方检验P = 0.15）。公共卫生数据最常按年度呈现（66%），而农业和野生动物机构经常在病例发生时进行描述（Fisher精确检验P < 0.001）。在格式方面，公共卫生机构有更多可下载的PDF文件（68%），而农业（61%）和野生动物机构（46%）直接在HTML网页文本中呈现数据（Fisher精确检验P < 0.001）。人口统计学和其他信息，包括年龄、性别和宿主等有限。最后，Fisher精确检验显示地理数据与机构类型之间无关联（P = 0.08）。然而，值得注意的是，农业部门的数据通常在县级（63%），而公共卫生数据在县级（38%）和州级（35%）之间分布。
本研究关注了在人群健康监测背景下，州公共卫生、野生动物和农业机构网站上人畜共患病毒统计数据的格式和特征。不同机构的人畜共患病毒数据各不相同，这给需要整合来自不同网站的动物和人类数据的研究人员带来了挑战。
