Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33001985›Full record

ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2020

Identifying the outbreak signal of COVID-19 before the response of the traditional disease monitoring system.

Yaoyao Dai, Jianming Wang

Abstract readEvaluation Study
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
12citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Early Warning of Infectious Disease Outbreaks Using Social Media and Digital Data: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025
    Article
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Travel-Related Diagnoses Among U.S. Nonmigrant Travelers or Migrants Presenting to U.S. GeoSentinel Sites - GeoSentinel Network, 2012-2021.Morbidity and mortality weekly report. Surveillance summaries (Washington, D.C. : 2002) · 2023
    Article
  10. Article
  11. Progression of the Pathway for Public Health Care during the COVID-19 Outbreak at District Health Office.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021
    Article
  12. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Yaoyao DaiDepartment of Infectious Diseases, Center for Disease Control and Prevention of Nantong City, Nantong, China.
Jianming WangDepartment of Epidemiology, Center for Global Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.ORCID 0000-0002-9151-284X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

synopsisEarly identification of the emergence of an outbreak of a novel infectious disease is critical to generating a timely response. The traditional monitoring system is adequate for detecting the outbreak of common diseases; however, it is insufficient for the discovery of novel infectious diseases. In this study, we used COVID-19 as an example to compare the delay time of different tools for identifying disease outbreaks. The results showed that both the abnormal spike in influenza-like illnesses and the peak of online searches of key terms could provide early signals. We emphasize the importance of testing these findings and discussing the broader potential to use syndromic surveillance, internet searches, and social media data together with traditional disease surveillance systems for early detection and understanding of novel emerging infectious diseases.

Indexed as

Sentinel SurveillanceChinaCommunicable DiseasesCoronavirus InfectionsCOVID-19Disease NotificationHumansInfluenza, HumanPandemicsPneumonia, ViralSocial Media

Identifiers

PMID33001985
PMCPMC7553315

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.