Methodology
How we collect, process, and present outbreak data.
Outbreak events reflect documented public health reports from official sources. Case counts are limited to what was reported in those events — they do not represent total national disease burden.
What this tracker shows
Outbreak intelligence from authoritative public health sources, aggregated and normalized into a single view.
- Reported outbreak events from the past 24 months
- Geographic distribution of documented outbreaks
- Frequency and recency of outbreak activity
- Source attribution and confidence classification
What it does NOT show
Data here has real limitations. It is not:
- A real-time global case surveillance system
- Total national disease burden or prevalence
- Complete surveillance coverage across all countries
- A substitute for official public health guidance or clinical judgment
How to interpret country comparisons
Country comparisons can be misleading. Reported counts vary based on:
- Surveillance capacity and reporting infrastructure
- National reporting standards
- Healthcare access and testing availability
- Diagnostic and detection protocols
Higher counts often reflect stronger surveillance — not greater disease burden.
How we define an outbreak event
An outbreak event is a single documented report from an official public health source. Each is normalized into a standardized record with disease type, location, report date, source, and available case or mortality data.
Outbreak Events
Official outbreak alerts and incident-level reporting sourced from:
Global Surveillance Totals
Cumulative surveillance and reporting data sourced from:
- WHO Global Health Observatory (GHO)
- UNICEF Immunization Datasets
- CDC National Surveillance Systems
- National Health Ministry Reports
Confidence scoring
Each event is classified by confidence based on source reliability and data completeness.
Our Methodology
Ventum Watch monitors outbreak activity across 28 pathogens, pulling from official APIs, curated datasets, and verified news sources — refreshed every 24 hours.
API Monitoring
WHO DON, CDC HAN, ECDC, and PAHO APIs are queried daily. Records scoring ≥80% confidence are added automatically.
Multi-Source Aggregation
Official agency feeds, curated datasets, and credible news outlets including Reuters, BBC, NPR, Nature, and Science.
Daily Pipeline
Runs at 05:00 UTC. Covers ingestion, aggregation, deduplication, news sync, alert evaluation, and link verification in one cycle.
Severity Classification
Based on CFR, active outbreak count, and geographic spread. Full definitions are listed below.
Alerts
Threshold, watchlist, and new-outbreak rules are checked daily. Alerts are classified Critical, High, Medium, or Low and shown in the dashboard header.
News-to-Data Sync
News articles are cross-referenced with outbreak records daily. If a report documents fatalities not yet in structured data, the record is updated automatically.
Historical Burden (2000–Present)
Uses WHO GHO annual surveillance data for measles, yellow fever, and polio, supplemented by outbreak records for all 28 monitored pathogens.
Data Quality Indicators
Pathogens with sparse data are labeled "Limited data." CWD is flagged "Animal only" — no confirmed human transmission. Both indicators appear in the pathogen selector.
Severity Level Definitions
Calculated from multiple outbreak factors to help prioritize attention.
- • CFR above 10%
- • More than 10 active outbreak reports
- • Rapid geographic expansion
- • CFR between 5 and 10%
- • 5 to 10 active outbreak reports
- • Geographic spread increasing
- • CFR between 1 and 5%
- • 3 to 5 active outbreak reports
- • Spread stable or slow
- • CFR below 1%
- • Fewer than 3 outbreak reports
- • Contained or declining
Coverage — 28 Pathogens
28 major pathogens monitored across 195+ countries, with trend analysis and historical surveillance data back to 2000.