Surveillance system can identify and track emerging infectious diseases
Friday, February 8, 2013 - 11:30
in Health & Medicine
A team of researchers developed a method to identify the cause of infectious disease outbreaks based on online reports about the symptoms, the season, and the ratio of cases to fatalities. Using data from the Internet outbreak reporting system ProMED-mail, the researchers applied this method to more than 100 outbreaks of encephalitis in South Asia, recently identified as an emerging infectious disease "hotspot," to determine which of 10 infectious diseases was causing symptoms of encephalitis.