Most tracking of disease outbreaks is currently done by doctors reporting cases of illness, but the process has a considerable lag time and excludes people who are sick but do not see a doctor. Internet-based surveillance systems may be able to trace the path of diseases faster, allowing the appropriate agencies to implement management and prevention strategies more expediently. “All these things really change the way that we can manage diseases,” says Indiana University professor Alessandro Vespignani. “It’s not just … a passive approach, where we just wait for the disease and then try to do something.” Google’s Flu Trends system, for instance, is set up to track and analyze Internet searches for flu information to find early clues of an outbreak. Meanwhile, Vespignani has attempted to simulate an epidemic in much the same way that hurricanes are modeled by forecasters. “It’s like doing weather forecasts in which you try to get all the initial conditions, and then you run your numerical models on the computer to try to anticipate what will be the evolution,” he says. Singapore scientists have developed FluLog, a voluntary system that could potentially use Bluetooth cell phone technology to pinpoint the whereabouts of people who have been in proximity to infected persons. The National University of Singapore’s Mehul Motani says the system employs a process known as contact tracing. Other Web-based disease-tracking programs include Australia’s Flutracking project, which enlists volunteers to report suspected infection among themselves and family members. Similar initiatives also have been implemented in the Netherlands, Italy, and the United Kingdom, Vespignani says.

View Full Article

For More Information:http://www.cpccci.com