Measles Infoveillance and Infodemiology in Italy: A Study From 2013 to 2025

In recent years, digital data generated through online searches and web activity have emerged as valuable complementary sources for public health surveillance. Infodemiology and infoveillance use information from digital platforms to monitor population interest, health behaviours, and disease-related information in near real time, potentially providing earlier insights than conventional surveillance systems [1, 2]. Among these sources, Google Trends (GT) and Wikipedia have been increasingly investigated as proxies of public interest and have shown correlations with the incidence of several infectious diseases [2, 3]. Measles remains one of the most contagious vaccine-preventable diseases, and outbreaks continue to occur in Italy despite mandatory notification, largely due to suboptimal vaccination coverage. While traditional surveillance provides reliable epidemiological data, reporting delays can limit timely public health responses [4]. Digital surveillance tools may therefore complement conventional systems by providing rapid indicators of changes in public interest that could reflect evolving epidemiological trends. The aim of this study was to evaluate the temporal association between GT and Wikipedia search activity and the incidence of measles cases reported by the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS), assessing the potential role of these digital data sources as complementary tools for measles surveillance in Italy.