The underpinning goal of this study was to provide
direction for future approaches to developing digital surveillance
systems; such as the development of predictive
models and/or integrative surveillance models that draw
upon multiple traditional and digital data source to create
estimates of disease within the community. This study,
however, did not aim to develop actionable surveillance
systems, produce predictive models of infectious disease
based on internet-based data or to identify the best search
terms for use in these models. Rather, this study aimed to
determine which diseases have most promise for monitoring
by surveillance systems built on internet search metrics;
this was achieved by assessing the level of correlation
between a wide range of infectious diseases and internet
search term metrics. Finally, this study aims to identify
diseases for which internet-based data could be used to
create early warning systems.