3. Redesigning syndromic surveillance for biosecurity

Fearnley, Lyle; Lakoff, Andrew; Collier, Sue

doi:10.7312/lako14606-003

Cited by 16 publications

(18 citation statements)

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“…Furthermore, Fearnley states that "[s]yndromic surveillance itself, with its orientation towards unexpected events and nonspecific objects, inevitably moves epidemiology in new directions." [27] (p. 84). French's analysis of ICT use within public health defines some of these new directions:…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These systems collected data from many different, non-traditional sources and transferred them to health departments. However, the collected data were not immediately helpful, because "[m]ore information means more interpretive work, without certain benefits; and more detected events requires more epidemiological responses, without (at this point) the necessary epidemiological resources to undertake them" [27] (p. 84). Fearnley points out that without the resources to interpret the incoming data, the newly developed systems were not helpful to epidemiologists.…”

Section: Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detecting the Visible: The Discursive Construction of Health Threats in a Syndromic Surveillance System Design

Cakici

Sanches

2014

Societies

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Information and communication technologies are not value-neutral tools that reflect reality; they privilege some forms of action, and they limit others. We analyze reports describing the design, development, testing and evaluation of a European Commission co-funded syndromic surveillance project called SIDARTHa (System for Information on Detection and Analysis of Risks and Threats to Health). We show that the reports construct the concept of a health threat as a sudden, unexpected event with the potential to cause severe harm and one that requires a public health response aided by surveillance. Based on our analysis, we state that when creating surveillance technologies, design choices have consequences for what can be seen and for what remains invisible. Finally, we argue that syndromic surveillance discourse privileges expertise in developing, maintaining and using software within public health practice, and it prioritizes standardized and transportable knowledge over local and context-dependent knowledge. We conclude that syndromic surveillance contributes to a shift in broader public health practice, with consequences for fairness if design choices and prioritizations remain invisible and unchallenged.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detecting the Visible: The Discursive Construction of Health Threats in a Syndromic Surveillance System Design

Cakici

Sanches

2014

Societies

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“…3 This analytical framework is shared by many studies of biosecurity in the public health and biological domains (e.g. Caduff, 2008, 2012; Cooper, 2006; Diprose et al, 2008; Elbe et al, 2014; Fearnley, 2008; Lakoff, 2007, 2008; Samimian-Darash, 2011; Stephenson and Jamieson, 2009), and encompasses many solutions to the problem of emerging and re-emerging biological vulnerabilities.…”

Section: Biosecurity As Object and Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, many studies have focused on the United States (e.g. Collier, 2008; Cooper, 2006; Lakoff, 2008, 2012; Rose, 2008; Fearnley, 2008; Masco, 2014; Wright, 2006) and have not explicitly considered their broader applicability or questioned the suitability of their conception of biosecurity to non-US contexts. Rappert (2009: 5) suggests that ‘the meaning of biosecurity derives from its uses, not just the way it is defined … it is “a form of situated action”’.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosecurity as a boundary object: Science, society, and the state

2016

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Biosecurity is a concern in many parts of the world but is differently conceived and addressed depending on context. This article draws on two cases concerned with life sciences research involving dangerous pathogens, one in the United States and one in Israel, to examine this variability. In both cases, concern revolves around issues of biosafety and bioterrorism, which are targeted by similar policies and solutions. The cases, nevertheless, differ. In the United States, biosecurity is contextualized in the dynamics between science and society, and apprehension about research with dangerous pathogens focuses on the social risks and benefits of such research. In Israel, biosecurity is contextualized in the dynamics between science and the state and hinges on whether and how far the state should restrict scientific freedom. In view of this difference, the authors advocate the development of a nuanced concept of biosecurity capable of describing and explaining local permutations. They suggest reconceptualizing biosecurity as a boundary object that mediates between competing domains and that takes variable form in efforts to resolve the problem of securing life.

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“…This necessitates monitoring possible signals of infectious disease, putting pressure on struggling public health services, diverting attention and funds. In addition, supposed ‘dual‐use’ technologies involve the sharing – or co‐opting – of public health surveillance networks for security concerns (Fearnley ). The discourse of global health citizenship and the universal exchange of information belies the ways in which this tends to the whims of the rich rather than the needs of the poor (Ingram ).…”

Section: Biosurveillance and Informational Governance: Extension; Prementioning

confidence: 99%

Biosecurity: securing circulations from the microbe to the macrocosm

Barker

2014

Geographical Journal

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Biosecurity poses the problem of how to live with and manage the complex, contingent and emergent circulations of life. This excess of circulating life manifests in a host of different circumstances: from the biopolitical attempt to sort 'good' from 'bad' circulations disrupted by a zoonotic virus making use of air transportation networks; to fluid microbial topologies that challenge the bounded individual body; from a biosurveillance network signal prompting anticipatory governance responses; to the intersection of financial and microbial geographies in the risky practices of industrial agribusiness. The 'shock of the real' from these eventful and everyday occurrences not only illuminates empirical connections between circulating bodies, microbes, knowledges, electronic signals, seeds, capital, food and anxiety, but also highlights that the complexity of securing processes that are elaborating new forms of life cannot be fully captured through any one theoretical lens. In this review article I consider the burgeoning field of biosecurity studies through attention to these differing concepts of circulation, and suggest neglected circulations for future research.

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3. Redesigning syndromic surveillance for biosecurity

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Detecting the Visible: The Discursive Construction of Health Threats in a Syndromic Surveillance System Design

Detecting the Visible: The Discursive Construction of Health Threats in a Syndromic Surveillance System Design

Biosecurity as a boundary object: Science, society, and the state

Biosecurity: securing circulations from the microbe to the macrocosm

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