This study highlights the challenges faced in providing a timely response to a rapidly spreading infectious disease outbreak and the role that event-based biosurveillance can play in quickly identifying areas for public health intervention. Argus reporting identified that the EHEC outbreak fundamentally challenged the public health system in Germany, by exposing deficiencies in infectious disease surveillance. More importantly, it evidenced that even a strong public health system must be able to adapt rapidly to challenges posed by the changing epidemiology of infectious diseases (2) . To that end, an interdisciplinary approach to event-based biosurveillance that allows for the timely detection of outbreaks and astute analysis of pertinent I&W is of paramount importance.