Machine Learning and Python for Deep Learning in Public Health Surveillance

The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly transformed public health surveillance, particularly through the application of machine learning (ML) and deep learning techniques. Traditional surveillance systems, which rely on manual reporting and conventional statistical models, often suffer from reporting delays, limited scalability, and reduced sensitivity to emerging health threats. In contrast, ML-based approaches enable automated, real-time analysis of large and heterogeneous datasets, including epidemiological records, medical imaging, textual data, mobility patterns, and digital traces from the web. This minireview summarizes recent advances (2021–2026) in the use of ML and deep learning for disease surveillance, with a specific emphasis on Python-based model development and the use of Google Colab as a cloud-based computational platform. Deep learning architectures such as convolutional neural networks and recurrent neural networks have demonstrated strong performance in outbreak detection, epidemic forecasting, syndromic surveillance, and infodemiology. Python’s extensive ecosystem of open-source libraries, combined with the accessibility and reprod