Title : Discussion on the creation and feasibility of constructing a holistic monitoring and early warning system for emerging infectious diseases
Abstract:
Background: Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become the most widespread global acute infectious disease in the past century, resulting in serious damages to human health, economic development and social stability. COVID-19 has revealed and exacerbated social, economic and political inequality and caused a series of malpractices, such as negative impacts on the environment, and unsustainable modes of production. The prevention and control of Emerging Infectious Diseases (EIDs) in the context of globalization should be worthy of learning a lesson and should be highly valued. However, the crisis can be transformed into an opportunity more than ever before, prompting us to advocate and create a better social protection system, to facilitate human health, to prepare for the challenges of future pandemics or crises, and to work together to promote harmonious coexistence between human and nature. Currently, an opportunity to be grasped is to construct an international systematic monitoring and early warning system for emerging infectious diseases. The importance and irreplaceability of early monitoring and early warning have been fully recognized from the occurrence and development of COVID-19. As a result, the monitoring of emerging infectious diseases should be regarded as the primary factor and cornerstone of the overall prevention and control efficiency, similar to the role of flood embankments. At the same time, such monitoring should have strict international cooperation, systemization, and integrity.
Methods: We summarized the early detection, monitoring and evaluation status of COVID-19, the epidemic trend of COVID-19 since December 2019, and the new consensus in the prevention and control practice; also, the early warning and monitoring measures of emerging infectious diseases at home and abroad were refined and summarized. The weight comparison was conducted on primary factors (policy strength, public cooperation, intervention measures, and infrastructures, etc. ) running through prevention and control measures. According to the principles of systematization and integrity, the construction of monitoring and early warning system for emerging infectious diseases were established and to conduct preliminary feasibility analysis.
Results: Firstly, early identification, monitoring and warning play a primary role in the prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases. And that existing international early surveillance of emerging infectious diseases lack integrity, systematization, and efficient international cooperation. Also, integrated emerging infectious disease monitoring system form a holistic and networked dynamic monitoring at five levels of emerging infectious diseases-infectious diseases-febrile diseases-microorganisms and intermediate hosts-global biological environment, and carry out digital collation, analysis, research and evaluation in real time. At last, it is feasible to establish a systematic early warning system for emerging infectious diseases based on global sharing.
Conclusion: In the context of the global EID pandemic represented by the COVID-19 epidemic, the construction of a systematic and holistic monitoring and early warning system for emerging infectious diseases is the basis for the prevention and control of public health emergencies. And based on the scientific basis of detection technology and early warning model, the establishment and enrichment of monitoring and early warning network will create a new framework and implementation blueprint for the prospective prediction and control of emerging infectious diseases, and provide a new theoretical basis and paradigm for coping with the possible global epidemic of EID in the future.
