Summary

The Internet is revolutionizing biosurveillance. 1 It is already the electronic network over which people and biosurveillance systems located anywhere on the planet communicate and exchange data. Modern biosurveillance systems (e.g., Real-Time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance [RODS], National Retail Data Monitor [NRDM], web-based disease reporting systems, BOSSS, ESSENCE, and BioSense) would not be possible without the Internet. Hospitals, laboratories, schools, retailers, and individuals contribute data to these systems via the Internet, and end users log in to these systems using Internet browsers. The Internet has made it possible not only to conceive of biosurveillance systems of global scope, but also to construct them, and to do so quickly.