Health authorities in Europe have the ability to be informed about all posts on social media, which refer to the possibility of spreading viruses or creating local outbreaks of infectious diseases.
The European Center for Infection Control (ECDC) presented Episomer, which is an artificial intelligence tool that enables rapid data analysis and has the mission of detecting epidemics or outbreaks in time so that the necessary health intervention can follow.
Simply put, Episomer is an epidemiological surveillance system that analyzes public posts on social media and looks for "signals" that may indicate the onset or spread of a disease.
In practice, it collects and processes large volumes of public data, tracking trends in posts based on time, geographic region, and subject matter.
If, for example, a particular area suddenly sees a large increase in posts referring to high fever, gastroenteritis, or respiratory symptoms, Episomer can record this change in online posts and discussions and alert public health experts.
The goal, as the European Center states, "is not to replace traditional disease surveillance systems, but to work in a complementary way, offering a faster picture of what is being discussed publicly and what may be evolving in real time."
According to an official announcement from the ECDC, the new tool is a continuation of the previous "epitweetr" system, which was also developed by the ECDC and used data from Twitter.
However, due to changes in access to the data of this platform, the European Center has developed a new tool adapted to the current environment of social networks.
Currently, according to what has been officially announced, Episomer collects data from the Bluesky platform through its public API, while there is a possibility of expansion to other social media platforms in the future.
The tool is designed for use by health authorities, scientific organizations, hospitals, universities, research institutions and epidemiological surveillance teams.
The ECDC's Head of Surveillance, Preparedness and Response, Vicky Lefebvre, said that "the monitoring of social networks continues to be a valuable source of epidemic information", noting that "Episomer allows the continued use of this possibility for early warning and better awareness of the epidemiological situation".
The system "includes an interactive web application through which users can monitor trends, receive alerts, analyze geographic data, manage privacy issues, and customize the tool's functions according to their needs."
As the announcement points out, despite the fact that it was designed for the surveillance of infectious diseases, Episomer can also adapt to other areas or risks, "as long as the keywords and topics it monitors are modified".
