The Enhanced Passive Surveillance (EPS) system (eps.tamu.edu) is an Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases (IIAD; iiad.tamu.edu) led initiative, funded by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, that enables data providers such as U.S. agriculture producers, veterinary practitioners, diagnostic laboratories, livestock markets, and wildlife biologists, as well as industry representatives and state and federal government officials to participate in designing and piloting a surveillance system aimed at supporting their day-to-day activities while also strengthening disease detection and control efforts.
This mHealth app is one of the tools within an innovative technology platform that:
• Collects animal health information from participants in real-time
• Provides the capability for this information to be analyzed for changes in the health status of animal populations that may signal an emerging disease concern or changes in endemic disease status
• Allows producers and veterinarians to share this information with other allowed participants in a secure, non-identifying format to improve animal health management at farm and industry levels and enable enhanced knowledge of disease events locally, regionally, and nationally
Major features include:
• User-friendly interface and navigation for tablets/smartphones; a web-based reporting option is also available
• Offline/Online report creation and submission (offline reports will be automatically sent once connectivity is established)
• Synchronized accounts across devices
• Auto-populate forms using registered premises
• Copy/duplicate data fields within a new report based on previous report submissions
• Ability to take and attach pictures to reports within the app
• Data export
• Diagnostic laboratory test result tracking and notification
• Disease notifications and alerts
• Manage, review, and query of participant’s submitted reports
• Access to analytical tools within the app for supporting daily animal health management directly on their mobile devices
• Access to real-time anonymous, aggregated summary information of animal health from other participants
The mHealth mixed animal app was developed with direct input from U.S. food animal and equine veterinary practitioners and customized to support livestock/poultry and equine health. The app will continue to be enhanced based on participant feedback and input.
Only authenticated participants who are part of the EPS pilot are allowed access to use the app and to report into the EPS system. For questions or inquiries about the EPS system or pilot, please contact [email protected].