Article section
AI and Machine Learning for Early Detection of Infectious Diseases in the US: Opportunities and Challenges
Abstract
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are reshaping U.S. infectious-disease surveillance by rapidly integrating clinical, environmental, and open-source data to flag anomalies sooner than conventional methods. This article aims to assess how artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can accelerate early detection of emerging infectious diseases in the United States In case studies, real-time ML tools cut hospital-acquired infections by 40 %, and systems like BlueDot predicted major outbreaks days before official alerts, underscoring strong gains in speed and accuracy. However, biased training data, opaque “black-box” models, privacy risks, and high implementation costs still threaten equitable, trustworthy deployment. Overcoming these barriers will require rigorous data-quality standards, explainable algorithms, interdisciplinary governance, and scalable validation frameworks—advances that could extend early-warning capacity from local hospitals to global health security networks.
Keywords:
AI-Driven Disease Surveillance Computational Epidemiology Health Informatics Smart Public Health Systems Digital Epidemiology Tools
Article information
Journal
Journal of Medical Science, Biology, and Chemistry
Volume (Issue)
2(1), (2025)
Pages
54-63
Published
Copyright
Copyright (c) 2025 Adekunle Adeoye, Chibuzo Okechukwu Onah, Enibokun Theresa Orobator, Elizabeth Anuoluwa Akintayo, Jacob Ukpabio Inuaeyen, Daniel Ojonugwa Umoru, Isaiah Olumeko, Gladys Jacob Dick, Kelechi Wisdom Elechi, Ubalaeze Solomon Elechi, Muhammad Bello Demola (Author)
Open access

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
References
Accuray. (n.d.). Overcoming AI Bias: Understanding, Identifying and Mitigating Algorithmic Bias in Healthcare—Accuray. Retrieved March 27, 2025, from https://www.accuray.com/blog/overcoming-ai-bias-understanding-identifying-and-mitigating-algorithmic-bias-in-healthcare/
Jones, A. (2024, October). AI Alignment June 2024 course retrospective – BlueDot Impact. https://bluedot.org/blog/ai-alignment-june-2024-retro/
Ahmad, F. B. (2024). Mortality in the United States—Provisional Data, 2023. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 73. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7331a1
AI-driven surveillance system to combat emerging infectious diseases. (2025, January 2). News-Medical. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20250102/AI-driven-surveillance-system-to-combat-emerging-infectious-diseases.aspx
Aiforia. (2021, October 21). Case study: Infectious diseases and AI. https://www.aiforia.com/resource-library/infectious-diseases-and-ai
Alder, S. (2025, March 19). The Biggest Healthcare Data Breaches of 2024. The HIPAA Journal. https://www.hipaajournal.com/biggest-healthcare-data-breaches-2024/
Ali, H. H., Ali, H. M., Ali, H. M., Ali, M. A., Zaky, A. F., Touk, A. A., Darwiche, A. H., & Touk, A. A. (2025). The Role and Limitations of Artificial Intelligence in Combating Infectious Disease Outbreaks. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.77070
Amazon Web Services. (2020). BlueDot Case Study. Amazon Web Services, Inc. https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/bluedot
BlueDot leverages data integration to predict COVID-19 spread. (n.d.). FME by Safe Software. Retrieved March 27, 2025, from https://fme.safe.com/fme-in-action/customers/bluedot
BlueDot. (n.d.). Customer case studies & testimonials. BlueDot. Retrieved March 27, 2025, from https://bluedot.global/customer-stories
Brownstein, J. S., Freifeld, C. C., Reis, B. Y., & Mandl, K. D. (2008). Surveillance Sans Frontières: Internet-Based Emerging Infectious Disease Intelligence and the HealthMap Project. PLoS Medicine, 5(7), e151. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050151
Cade, J. (2024, August 7). BlueDot unveils global infectious disease surveillance solution. BlueDot. https://bluedot.global/bluedot-unveils-next-gen-global-infectious-disease-surveillance-solution-cutting-manual-detection-time-by-nearly-90
CDC Foundation. (2024, August). The Costs of Getting Sick | Contagious Conversations. CDC Foundation. https://www.cdcfoundation.org/conversations/cost-of-getting-sick
CDC. (1994, April). Addressing Emerging Infectious Disease Threats: A Prevention Strategy for the United States Executive Summary. https://www.cdc.gov/mmWR/preview/mmwrhtml/00031393.htm
CDC. (2024, July). The national syndromic surveillance program. https://www.cdc.gov/nssp/documents/NSSP-Infographic.pdf
CDC. (2025, February 21). Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Technologies. CDC. https://www.cdc.gov/surveillance/data-modernization/technologies/ai-ml.html
Center for Global Digital Health Innovation. (n.d.). Predictive Data Analytics in Global Health. Center for Global Digital Health Innovation. Retrieved March 27, 2025, from https://publichealth.jhu.edu/center-for-global-digital-health-innovation/september-2023-predictive-data-analytics-in-global-health
Chae, S., Kwon, S., & Lee, D. (2018). Predicting Infectious Disease Using Deep Learning and Big Data. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(8), 1596. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15081596
CIDRAP. (2024, February 16). US Lyme Disease infections. https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/lyme-disease/documented-us-lyme-disease-infections-soared-2022-after-updated-case-definition
Dankwa-Mullan, I. (2024). Health Equity and Ethical Considerations in Using Artificial Intelligence in Public Health and Medicine. Preventing Chronic Disease, 21. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd21.240245
Ekundayo, F. (2024). Using machine learning to predict disease outbreaks and enhance public health surveillance. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 24(3), 794–811. https://doi.org/10.30574/wjarr.2024.24.3.3732
Emerging infectious disease. (2025). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Emerging_infectious_disease&oldid=1280915963
Ennab, M., & Mcheick, H. (2024). Enhancing interpretability and accuracy of AI models in healthcare: A comprehensive review on challenges and future directions. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 11, 1444763. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2024.1444763
Epelde, F. (2024). How AI Could Help Us in the Epidemiology and Diagnosis of Acute Respiratory Infections? Pathogens, 13(11), Article 11. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens13110940
Fahim, S. (2024, July 23). Artificial Intelligence in Disease Detection and Prevention. Valparaiso University. https://onlinedegrees.valpo.edu/ai-in-disease-prevention/
Freifeld, C. C., Mandl, K. D., Reis, B. Y., & Brownstein, J. S. (2008). HealthMap: Global Infectious Disease Monitoring through Automated Classification and Visualization of Internet Media Reports. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 15(2), 150–157. https://doi.org/10.1197/jamia.M2544
Ghaffar Nia, N., Kaplanoglu, E., & Nasab, A. (2023). Evaluation of artificial intelligence techniques in disease diagnosis and prediction. Discover Artificial Intelligence, 3(1), 5. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44163-023-00049-5
Giacobbe, D. R., Zhang, Y., & de la Fuente, J. (n.d.). Explainable artificial intelligence and machine learning: Novel approaches to face infectious diseases challenges. Annals of Medicine, 55(2), 2286336. https://doi.org/10.1080/07853890.2023.2286336
Hattab, G., Irrgang, C., Körber, N., Kühnert, D., & Ladewig, K. (2025). The Way Forward to Embrace Artificial Intelligence in Public Health. American Journal of Public Health, 115(2), 123-128. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307888
HealthMap. (2024). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=HealthMap&oldid=1235220506
HITRUST. (2023, November 15). The Ethics of AI in Healthcare. https://hitrustalliance.net/blog/the-ethics-of-ai-in-healthcare
Jeong, J., Kim, S., Pan, L., Hwang, D., Kim, D., Choi, J., Kwon, Y., Yi, P., Jeong, J., & Yoo, S.-J. (2025). Reducing the workload of medical diagnosis through artificial intelligence: A narrative review. Medicine, 104(6), e41470. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000041470
Luna, M. (2025, March). Machine Learning in Epidemiology: Enhancing Disease Forecasting and Outbreak Prevention through AI.
Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. (2024, January 12). Is AI the Answer to Lowering Healthcare Costs? - Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. https://kenaninstitute.unc.edu/news-media/is-ai-the-answer-to-lowering-healthcare-costs/
MacIntyre, C. R., Chen, X., Kunasekaran, M., Quigley, A., Lim, S., Stone, H., Paik, H., Yao, L., Heslop, D., Wei, W., Sarmiento, I., & Gurdasani, D. (2023). Artificial intelligence in public health: The potential of epidemic early warning systems. The Journal of International Medical Research, 51(3), 03000605231159335. https://doi.org/10.1177/03000605231159335
Malesu, V. K. (2025, March 3). Can AI Outperform Doctors in Diagnosing Infectious Diseases? News-Medical. https://www.news-medical.net/health/can-ai-outperform-doctors-in-diagnosing-infectious-diseases.aspx
McArthur, D. B. (2019). Emerging Infectious Diseases. The Nursing Clinics of North America, 54(2), 297–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cnur.2019.02.006
McCormick, B. (2025, January 19). AI Outperforms Traditional Methods in Predicting Ovarian Cancer Surgery Outcomes. AJMC. https://www.ajmc.com/view/ai-outperforms-traditional-methods-in-predicting-ovarian-cancer-surgery-outcomes
Melchane, S., Elmir, Y., Kacimi, T., & Boubchir, L. (2024, November 14). Artificial Intelligence for Infectious Disease Prediction and Prevention: A Comprehensive Review. https://arxiv.org/html/2411.10486v1
MSc, A. D. B. (2024, March 18). The Role of AI in Pathogen Detection and Epidemic Prediction. News-Medical. https://www.news-medical.net/health/The-Role-of-AI-in-Pathogen-Detection-and-Epidemic-Prediction.aspx
Olaboye, J. A., Maha, C. C., Kolawole, T. O., & Abdul, S. (2024). Innovations in real-time infectious disease surveillance using AI and mobile data. International Medical Science Research Journal, 4(6), 647-667. https://doi.org/10.51594/imsrj.v4i6.1190
Omar, M., Brin, D., Glicksberg, B., & Klang, E. (2024). Utilizing Natural Language Processing and Large Language Models in the Diagnosis and Prediction of Infectious Diseases: A Systematic Review (p. 2024.01.14.24301289). medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.14.24301289
Parums, D. V. (2023). Editorial: Infectious Disease Surveillance Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its Role in Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness. Medical Science Monitor : International Medical Journal of Experimental and Clinical Research, 29, e941209-1-e941209-4. https://doi.org/10.12659/MSM.941209
Parker, M. (2025, March). Ethical Challenges in the use of AI for Infectious Disease Epidemiology: A Double-Edged Sword. https://www.ethox.ox.ac.uk/blog/ethical-challenges-in-the-use-of-ai-for-infectious-disease-epidemiology-a-double-edged-sword
SCIP. (2024, October 28). Predictive Analytics in Healthcare: The Future of Disease Prevention—Strategic Consortium of Intelligence Professionals (SCIP). https://www.scip.org/news/685370/Predictive-Analytics-in-Healthcare-The-Future-of-Disease-Prevention-.htm
Shi, E. K. (2024, October). AI in Public Health: Gaps, Disparities, and Remarkable Potential. Global Health NOW. https://globalhealthnow.org/2024-10/ai-public-health-gaps-disparities-and-remarkable-potential
Srivastava, V., Kumar, R., Wani, M. Y., Robinson, K., & Ahmad, A. (2025). Role of artificial intelligence in early diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases. Infectious Diseases, 57(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/23744235.2024.2425712
Suvvari, T. K., & Kandi, V. (2024). Artificial intelligence enhanced infectious disease surveillance—A call for global collaboration. New Microbes and New Infections, 62, 101494. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nmni.2024.101494
Westat. (n.d.). Can natural language processing improve the completeness of immunization data? Westat. Retrieved March 26, 2025, from https://www.westat.com/projects/natural-language-processing-improve-immunization-data/
Zachariah, P., Hill-Ricciuti, A., & Natarajan, K. (2018). 1765. Use of a Natural Language Processing-Based Informatics Pipeline for Infectious Disease Syndrome Surveillance. Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 5(Suppl 1), S63–S64. https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofy209.150
Zhou, H.-Y., Li, Y., Li, J.-Y., Meng, J., & Wu, A. (2024). Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to combat infectious diseases: Progress, challenges, and future outlook. The Innovation Medicine, 2(4), 100091–15. https://doi.org/10.59717/j.xinn-med.2024.100091