Computer networks have been used for years by public health officials to monitor outbreaks of disease. Typically, reporting and compiling can take a day or more ... Public health experts recognize a need for more rapid surveillance and detection ... Systems are being developed to collect and analyze disease data immediately ... One such program, called Real-Time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance, or RODS, is being developed at the Center for Biomedical Informatics at the University of Pittsburgh. "Our goal is to be able to analyze patterns and ask whether there is something unusual compared to the usual. ... There's a torrent of information being collected routinely in real time. Our goals include building a thin layer of data collection infrastructure ... A report on the latest research at the leading edge of the counter-biowarfare effort. Tracking an Outbreak Minute by Minute | 
