Poljak’s research team developed and launched the Interactive Animal Pathogens Dashboard — a hub that processes and disseminates diagnostic data on pathogens in cows, chickens, pigs, and horses. The dashboard gives professionals in the Ontario livestock industry invaluable insights on common diseases using real-time, comprehensive data from the Animal Health Laboratory at U of G.
Tracking diseases in livestock is a complex challenge, especially as the amount of data we collect rapidly increases. Effective disease monitoring relies on the integration of vast, complex data streams, a challenge that can be addressed with the evolution of big data analytics. For new diseases, early detection is crucial for effective intervention to prevent widespread outbreaks. For recurring diseases, understanding patterns helps prioritize control efforts. However, the current systems often make it difficult to get real-time, clear information. As the top veterinary research institution in the province, the University of Guelph has the tools to process and analyse big data, though this information is not accessible to the livestock industry. Traditional methods of sharing data often fail to summarize complex datasets effectively, making it difficult for stakeholders to interpret trends and act swiftly.
This research project aimed to create a streamlined, user-friendly platform that improves disease tracking and helps make faster, better decisions to protect Ontario’s livestock industries and improve animal welfare. To do this, Dr. Zvonimir Poljak and his research team leveraged extensive diagnostic data available at the University of Guelph Animal Health Laboratory to create a platform that analyzes and synthesizes various data types into accessible, user-friendly formats for industry applications. The team developed the Ontario Integrated Animal Pathogens Dashboards (IAPD), an interactive information hub designed for veterinarians, government agencies, and industry professionals within the animal food sector. The IAPD monitors and reports on pathogen trends in the Ontario livestock industry, aggregating data to support decision-making on a wide range of health issues affecting cows, pigs, chickens, and horses. The project centered on three primary objectives: first, enhancing the current data management system to improve accessibility and aggregation; second, developing interactive dashboards to provide real-time visualizations of disease trends across both temporal and geographic dimensions; and third, creating forecasting tools for risk-based surveillance of key diseases, which were integrated with the dashboards.
The research team successfully created several dashboards that provided easily accessible data for seventeen common livestock diseases including influenza A virus, bronchitis virus, porcine rotavirus, porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome in pigs, and bovine diarrhea virus, and cattle Salmonella Dublin. The dashboard also handles a wide range of data formats, including binary and quantitative results, text, and nucleotide sequences, biological animal samples and test pathogen data across multiple temporal scales. Within a dashboard for a specific pathogen, users can access data at the submission level that records the reason for submission, species, demographic and clinical data, and specimen-level data taken from archived lab tests. To display real-time information, the data is first processed and then aggregated at weekly intervals, and finally connected to the final datasets in the user platform for live updates. Informed by user feedback, the dashboards also include several interactive elements that improve the user experience. Users can filter for date level, case type, and commodity type, and can compare long-term trends with various options for temporal data for numerous pathogens.
The IAPD dashboards showcase the capacity of big data in enhancing the management of livestock diseases by veterinarians, animal health regulators, and industry professionals. By combining real-time monitoring and data aggregation into accessible dashboards, decision-makers in Ontario have access to comprehensive information critical for early detection and timely intervention. In creating the IAPD, Poljak’s team equips industry stakeholders with the tools needed to take proactive measures against persistent and evolving livestock pathogen threats, contributing to a more resilient and sustainable agri-food sector and improved animal welfare.
Petukhova, T., Spinato, M., Rossi, T., Guerin, M. T., Kelton, D., Nelson-Smikle, P., Barham, M., Ojkic, D., & Poljak, Z. (2023). Development of interactive dashboards for monitoring endemic animal pathogens in Ontario, Canada: Ontario interactive animal pathogen dashboards. Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation, 35(6), 727–736. https://doi.org/10.1177/10406387231190076
Dr. Rozita Dara , Dr. Michele Guerin, Dr. David Kelton, Dr. Pauline Nelson-Smikle, Dr. Mel Barham, Dr. Maria Spinato, Dr. Jeffrey Charters, Dr. Tanya Rossi, Dr. Gaston Annamunthondo, Dr. Tatiana Petukhova, Dr. Cathy Bauman
Hoc Tran
Canadian Animal Health Laboratory, Ontario Animal Health Network, Ontario Agri-food Innovation Alliance
