An unconditional space–time scan statistic for ZIP‐distributed data

A scan statistic is proposed for the prospective monitoring of spatiotemporal count data with an excess of zeros. The method that is based on an outbreak model for the zero‐inflated Poisson distribution is shown to be superior to traditional scan statistics based on the Poisson distribution in the presence of structural zeros. The spatial accuracy and the detection timeliness of the proposed scan statistic are investigated by means of simulation, and an application on the weekly cases of Campylobacteriosis in Germany illustrates how the scan statistic could be used to detect emerging disease outbreaks. An implementation of the method is provided in the open‐source R package scanstatistics available on the Comprehensive R Archive Network.