As influenza season peaks in the United States, one researcher is working to bring the public into tracking the epidemic. Using new technology, he may be able to provide public health officials with useful information more quickly than the usual methods. And he is applying the new tools to study disease outbreaks around the world.
Boston Children's Hospital epidemiologist John Brownstein is literally pinning down where the flu outbreak is occurring. “All the pins represent the people who are reporting to the system," he said.
The sea of pins on his virtual US map represents the nationwide network of volunteers for his website, Flu Near You. "The idea is, getting people with a small amount of time each week to tell us how they're feeling," he said.
A short weekly email survey asks each person about his or her health. In just a few months, Flu Near You has recruited 40,000 volunteers and keeps growing.
“So we say, putting the public back in public health," said Brownstein.
Hospitals and doctors' offices were seeing rising numbers of flu cases in late December, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. But Brownstein says he is ahead of the others in terms of information.
“And Flu Near You is showing that we've already peaked and are heading down. And in fact the latest numbers that are coming out from the CDC actually agree that this has already come down," he said.
Brownstein plans to take the system global and expand it to other diseases.
He currently runs another website, HealthMap, that for seven years has tracked outbreaks worldwide.
He says as a graduate student he grew weary of begging health ministers for information. “And so we had this idea, well, what if we mined the Web looking for clues about outbreaks via news, social media, blogs, chat rooms, discussion forums," he said.
In Haiti's deadly 2010 cholera outbreak, HealthMap's automated Web searches provided early information on the trajectory of the disease.
Today, he is following an ebola outbreak in Uganda. “We think there's opportunities to really track emerging infectious diseases with these tools," he said.
Tools that pinpoint where diseases are occurring now.
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解24
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解33
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解16
2012届高考二轮英语语法复习学案(介词)
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解40
2012届高考英语二轮复习英语精品学案(广东专用)第1模块 完形填空 专题3 议论文型完形填空
福建省2012届高考英语二轮专题总复习课件:专题4 第3讲 猜测词义题
[原创精品]2012届高三英语二轮复习训练:专题6短文改错
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解25
福建省2012届高考英语二轮专题总复习课件:专题4 第2讲 细节事实题
2012届高考二轮复习英语学案:第30讲 要点作文(湖南专用31讲)
[原创精品]2012届英语二轮复习课件:Unit 5介词及介词短语
2012届高考英语二轮复习英语精品学案(广东专用)第5模块 基础写作 模块导读
2012届高考二轮复习英语学案:第5讲 时态与语态(湖南专用31讲)
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解38
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解32
2012届高考英语二轮复习英语精品学案(广东专用)第2模块 语法填空 专题1 记叙文型语法填空
2012届高考英语二轮复习英语精品学案(广东专用)第6模块 读写任务 模块导读
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解22
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解34
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题1 单项选择9
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解23
2012届高考英语二轮复习英语精品学案(广东专用)第1模块 完形填空 专题1 记叙文型完形填空
2012届高考二轮复习英语学案:第7讲 主谓一致(湖南专用31讲)
2012届高考英语二轮复习英语精品学案(广东专用)第1模块 完形填空 专题4 说明文型完形填空
2012届高考二轮复习英语学案:第31讲 (半)开放作文(湖南专用31讲)
2012届高考英语二轮复习英语精品学案(广东专用)第3模块 阅读理解 专题6 史地常识型阅读理解
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解29
2012届高考二轮复习英语学案:第4讲 听力填空(湖南专用31讲)
2012高考二轮复习英语专题训练(江苏专用)专题2 阅读理解28