Biosurveillance and Public Health Practice: A Case Study of North Carolina’s NC DETECT System

Biosurveillance systems were initially developed primarily to facilitate early detection for biological, chemical, radiological, or terrorist threats to public health (Lombardo, Burkom, and Pavlin 2004; Loonsk 2004). As these systems evolved, their application to a wide array of public health threats has become more routine (Ginsberg et al. 2008; Hope et al. 2008; Leonardi et al. 2006; Ma et al. 2006; Marx et al. 2003), and thus they have demonstrated their value and utility for strengthening public health preparedness.