Asian Bioethics Review 11 (2):173-187 (2019)
Abstract |
Surveillance is essential for communicable disease prevention and control. Traditional notification of demographic and clinical information, about individuals with selected infectious diseases, allows appropriate public health action and is protected by public health and privacy legislation, but is slow and insensitive. Big data–based electronic surveillance, by commercial bodies and government agencies, which draws on a plethora of internet- and mobile device–based sources, has been widely accepted, if not universally welcomed. Similar anonymous digital sources also contain syndromic information, which can be analysed, using customised algorithms, to rapidly predict infectious disease outbreaks, but the data are nonspecific and predictions sometimes misleading. However, public health authorities could use these online sources, in combination with de-identified personal health data, to provide more accurate and earlier warning of infectious disease events—including exotic or emerging infections—even before the cause is confirmed, and allow more timely public health intervention. Achieving optimal benefits would require access to selected data from personal electronic health and laboratory records and the potential to re-identify individuals found to be involved in outbreaks, to ensure appropriate care and infection control. Despite existing widespread digital surveillance and major potential community benefits of extending its use to communicable disease control, there is considerable public disquiet about allowing public health authorities access to personal health data. Informed public discussion, greater transparency and an ethical framework will be essential to build public trust in the use of new technology for communicable disease control.
|
Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) |
Categories |
No categories specified (categorize this paper) |
ISBN(s) | |
DOI | 10.1007/s41649-019-00087-1 |
Options |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Download options
References found in this work BETA
The Ethics of Big Data: Current and Foreseeable Issues in Biomedical Contexts.Brent Daniel Mittelstadt & Luciano Floridi - 2016 - Science and Engineering Ethics 22 (2):303–341.
Big Data Analytics, Infectious Diseases and Associated Ethical Impacts.Chiara Garattini, Jade Raffle, Dewi N. Aisyah, Felicity Sartain & Zisis Kozlakidis - 2019 - Philosophy and Technology 32 (1):69-85.
Citations of this work BETA
The Perfect Moral Storm: Diverse Ethical Considerations in the COVID-19 Pandemic.Vicki Xafis, G. Owen Schaefer, Markus K. Labude, Yujia Zhu & Li Yan Hsu - 2020 - Asian Bioethics Review 12 (2):65-83.
Community Perspectives on the Benefits and Risks of Technologically Enhanced Communicable Disease Surveillance Systems: A Report on Four Community Juries.Chris Degeling, Stacy M. Carter, Antoine M. van Oijen, Jeremy McAnulty, Vitali Sintchenko, Annette Braunack-Mayer, Trent Yarwood, Jane Johnson & Gwendolyn L. Gilbert - 2020 - BMC Medical Ethics 21 (1):1-14.
‘Personal Health Surveillance’: The Use of mHealth in Healthcare Responsibilisation.Ben Davies - 2021 - Public Health Ethics 14 (3):268-280.
Similar books and articles
Common Sense and Common Consent in Communicable Disease Surveillance.L. Turnberg - 2003 - Journal of Medical Ethics 29 (1):27-29.
Trust and the Ethical Challenges in the Use of Whole Genome Sequencing for Tuberculosis Surveillance: A Qualitative Study of Stakeholder Perspectives.Carly Jackson, Jennifer L. Gardy, Hedieh C. Shadiloo & Diego S. Silva - 2019 - BMC Medical Ethics 20 (1):43.
Ontological Representation of CDC Active Bacterial Core Surveillance Case Reports.Albert Goldfain, Barry Smith & Lindsay G. Cowell - 2014 - Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Biomedical Ontology 1327:74-77.
Communication and Communicable Disease Control: Lessons From Ebola Virus Disease.Gwendolyn Lesley Gilbert & Ian Kerridge - 2015 - American Journal of Bioethics 15 (4):62-65.
Facing the Future: Seeking Ethics for Everyday Surveillance. [REVIEW]David Lyon - 2001 - Ethics and Information Technology 3 (3):171-180.
A Public Health Ethics Approach to Non-Communicable Diseases.Stacy M. Carter & Lucie Rychetnik - 2013 - Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 10 (1):17-18.
Take Not a Musket to Kill a Butterfly--Ensuring the Proportionality of Measures Used in Disease Control on the Internet.T. Ploug & S. Holm - 2014 - Public Health Ethics 7 (1):64-66.
Using Social Networking Sites for Communicable Disease Control: Innovative Contact Tracing or Breach of Confidentiality?K. L. Mandeville, M. Harris, H. L. Thomas, Y. Chow & C. Seng - 2014 - Public Health Ethics 7 (1):47-50.
Surveillance and Persuasion.Michael Nagenborg - 2014 - Ethics and Information Technology 16 (1):43-49.
Ethics of Identity in the Time of Big Data - Delivered at 25th Annual International Vincentian Business Ethics Conference (IVBEC), 2018, St. John’s University, New York.James Brusseau - manuscript
Indiscriminate Mass Surveillance and the Public Sphere.Titus Stahl - 2016 - Ethics and Information Technology 18 (1):33-39.
Just Surveillance? Towards a Normative Theory of Surveillance.Kevin Macnish - 2014 - Surveillance and Society 12 (1):142-153.
Syndromic Surveillance and Patients as Victims and Vectors.Leslie P. Francis, Margaret P. Battin, Jay Jacobson & Charles Smith - 2009 - Journal of Bioethical Inquiry 6 (2):187-195.
Who Watches the Watchers? Towards an Ethic of Surveillance in a Digital Age.Eric Stoddart - 2008 - Studies in Christian Ethics 21 (3):362-381.
Communitarianism and the Ethics of Communicable Disease: Some Preliminary Thoughts.Cara M. Cheyette - 2011 - Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics 39 (4):678-689.
Analytics
Added to PP index
2019-07-11
Total views
14 ( #735,225 of 2,519,650 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
4 ( #166,923 of 2,519,650 )
2019-07-11
Total views
14 ( #735,225 of 2,519,650 )
Recent downloads (6 months)
4 ( #166,923 of 2,519,650 )
How can I increase my downloads?
Downloads