Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41467697›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of infectious diseases2026

A BEACON for Novel Disease Threats: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence for Informal Event-Based Outbreak Surveillance.

Nahid Bhadelia, Ioannis Ch Paschalidis, John S Brownstein, Britta Lassman

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of infectious diseases, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

4 authors.

Nahid BhadeliaCenter on Emerging Infectious Diseases, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-4512-2741
Ioannis Ch PaschalidisBoston University College of Engineering, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3343-2913
John S BrownsteinInnovation and Digital Health Accelerator, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Britta LassmanCenter on Emerging Infectious Diseases, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.ORCID 0000-0003-0807-9297

Funding

BEACONBoston UniversityEpidemic Preparedness InnovationsGates FoundationNational Science FoundationPax SapiensTianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Event-based surveillance systems have proven critical for early detection of disease outbreaks by analyzing informal data sources, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) offers new opportunities to enhance these capabilities at scale. We describe the Biothreats Emergence, Analysis and Communications Network (BEACON), a novel platform that combines a domain-adapted large language model with expert human oversight to provide rapid, contextualized outbreak reporting across the globe, while highlighting both the transformative potential and current limitations of AI-assisted disease surveillance.

Indexed as

Artificial IntelligenceDisease OutbreaksEpidemiological MonitoringHumansartificial intelligencedisease surveillancelarge language modelsoutbreaks

Identifiers

PMID41467697
PMCPMC13017941

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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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.