Scientists have created, and continue to improve, early warning systems for natural disasters, such as earthquakes, tornados and tsunamis. According to a new study published in EMBO reports, the technology exists to create similar systems for infectious diseases.
The report was authored by Barbara Han, PhD, of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y., and John Drake, PhD, of the University of Georgia Odum School of Ecology in Athens. According to Dr. Han, it's time the world changed its approach to handling infectious disease epidemics.
"For far too long our main strategy for tackling infectious disease has been defense after emergence, when a lot of people are already suffering," said Dr. Han. "We are at an exciting point in time where technology and big data present us with another option, one that is anticipatory and has real potential to improve global health security."
The researchers suggest a three-tier system, similar to weather alerts, that uses "watches," "warnings" and "emergencies." They also propose the system use machine learning methods and mine data to identify disease-carrying animal species and geographic hotspots for outbreaks.
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