Environmental scanning enables CEZD to stay up to date with emerging animal and zoonotic disease events around the world. CEZD utilizes the Canadian Network for Public Health Intelligence (CNPHI) platform and its Knowledge Integration Using Web-based Intelligence (KIWI) technology for its environmental scanning activities. The environmental scanning process consists of gathering information about emerging or zoonotic disease events across the world and assessing their relevance to Canada.

The KIWI technology reduces the information burden by applying its filtering algorithm and presenting the output disease signals to community members for review. Signals identified as relevant/important are shared with the broader CEZD community in the form of weekly intelligence reports. By combining human analysis with automated computer information mining, CEZD is able to produce timely intelligence reports that raise awareness and help determine potential future disease threats.