McMaster researchers release “CANDID” network for infectious disease monitoring

A team from McMaster University has set up an infectious disease surveillance network after 25 years of hard work. The database includes over a century of epidemiological information from Canada, according to an announcement.

The network, named the Canadian Notifiable Disease Incidence Dataset (CANDID), will be used to monitor and predict possible infectious disease outbreaks. David Earn spearheaded the project, uncovering the handwritten documents from as early as 1903 which were transferred online.

Earn said he hopes CANDID “will help spur important changes to Canada’s current infectious disease reporting standards, noting that the public release of infectious disease data is arguably worse now than it was at any point during the 20th century, including the pre-digital era.”