The importance of rapid and robust availability of epidemiological data for real-time mapping of the risk of avian influenza A (H5N1) spread

A One Health Platform for Future Epidemic Preparedness

“…This paper introduces the EpiConnect Intelligence Platform (ECIP) (Figure 1), a webbased platform available at the link: https://tinyurl.com/episorveglianza (accessed on 28 February 2024) that enables health professionals and scientists to contextualize, analyze, and verify information [4][5][6] for rapid, evidence-based action on real data. Created in 2022, through the collaborative effort of virologists, epidemiologists, statisticians, data scientists, and molecular biologists (more details are available in Supplementary Materials), ECIP aims to achieve three key objectives: (i) to support epidemiological understanding by providing key data to understand the origins and transmission dynamics of a disease to improve the ability to anticipate and respond to epidemiological emergencies [7][8][9]; (ii) to harmonize information across countries, standardize it according to strict principles and share it in an accessible manner [10] to create a uniform and reliable information base; (iii) to estimate key epidemiological parameters, such as incubation period, serial interval, and reproductive number, providing crucial information for understanding and managing infectious diseases [11].…”

Trends and Spatiotemporal Patterns of Avian Influenza Outbreaks in Italy: A Data-Driven Approach

“…Recently, more and more outbreaks have been reported among mammals [4][5][6], which are biologically closer to humans than birds, raising concerns that the virus may adapt to infect humans more easily. However, based on the available information [7], human cases remain very rare [8] and those reported are mostly related to close contact with infected birds and contaminated environments [9,10].…”