Friday, June 21, 2013

Epidemic Surveillance Through Technology- Beyond Google Flu

Source: Bio.Diaspora
Here is an interesting article on the use of technologies to bolster the surveillance and prediction of epidemics and outbreaks. The article features my friend and and colleague Dr. Kamran Khan of St. Michael's Hospital and the University of Toronto.

As the founder of Bio.Diaspora, Dr. Khan utilizes data from global travel, human migration and infectious diseases to predict emerging outbreaks. Here is an article by Dr. Khan, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, on the spread of a novel influenza virus by global airline transportation.

Prediction of epidemics may lead to risk mitigation of health, security and economic activity by governments and health authorities.

Very cool.