Nikolaos I. Stilianakis

Sergio Consoli, Peter Markov, Nikolaos I. Stilianakis et al.

This paper presents a novel approach to epidemic surveillance, leveraging the power of Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models (LLMs) for effective interpretation of unstructured big data sources, like the popular ProMED and WHO Disease Outbreak News. We explore several LLMs, evaluating their capabilities in extracting valuable epidemic information. We further enhance the capabilities of the LLMs using in-context learning, and test the performance of an ensemble model incorporating multiple open-source LLMs. The findings indicate that LLMs can significantly enhance the accuracy and timeliness of epidemic modelling and forecasting, offering a promising tool for managing future pandemic events.

Sergio Consoli, Pietro Coletti, Peter V. Markov et al.

The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI), together with the increased availability of social media and news for epidemiological surveillance, are marking a pivotal moment in epidemiology and public health research. Leveraging the power of generative AI, we use an ensemble approach which incorporates multiple Large Language Models (LLMs) to extract valuable actionable epidemiological information from the World Health Organization (WHO) Disease Outbreak News (DONs). DONs is a collection of regular reports on global outbreaks curated by the WHO and the adopted decision-making processes to respond to them. The extracted information is made available in a daily-updated dataset and a knowledge graph, referred to as eKG, derived to provide a nuanced representation of the public health domain knowledge. We provide an overview of this new dataset and describe the structure of eKG, along with the services and tools used to access and utilize the data that we are building on top. These innovative data resources open altogether new opportunities for epidemiological research, and the analysis and surveillance of disease outbreaks.