How Americans use big data to prevent the spread of flu

At present, the momentum of large data development is "in full swing", but owning the data does not mean owning its value, only analyzing and digging the data, discovering useful information, and then "deciphering" the information can truly create value. Owning data has its value, which is one of the most common misconceptions about big data. Recent flu outbreaks have been announced in Boston and New York. In Boston, 700 cases have been reported, 18 of whom have died. In order for the epidemic to be effectively controlled, health officials as well as application http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/7155.html "> developers are seeking help with big data." Cloudtimes's reporter, Florence de Borja, describes how Americans use large data to prevent and control influenza outbreaks, compiled as follows:

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the organization's main job is to prevent the spread of influenza outbreaks. The centre is now gradually using a large amount of data to understand the epidemic. Although doctors are the "main weapon" in controlling the epidemic, the problem is that there is not enough vaccine to spread all the people. In addition, before the development of influenza vaccines, the need to identify different strains of influenza virus, so that the production of vaccines can really prevent the spread of influenza.

Lynetter Brammer, an epidemiological expert from CDC's research on influenza, says flu research needs to pinpoint the strains of flu currently affecting a particular region, so that flu vaccines can be used to stop the spread of the flu. They also did a number of anti-virus tests to ensure the flu vaccine could mitigate the effects of the flu. They are tracking the death of flu and pneumonia to see if the pandemic will cause a rise in mortality. However, Brammer admits that even with the help of big data, doctors can never completely stop the flu, and the best doctors could do is to control the pandemic. Brammer hopes to develop a better flu vaccine to reduce the impact of the pandemic.

Recently launched flu apps

In collaboration with the score Global Threat Fund, the American Public Health Association recently launched Flunearyou, an application that collects information on the development of flu symptoms. As long as the age of 13 years old, can be registered on the website, the site to monitor the spread of influenza (pictured below). and weekly surveys can help disaster prevention organizations, researchers and public health officials prepare for the spread of the pandemic. More importantly, the data-sharing application will be of great help in predicting any possible outbreaks of influenza in the future.

Figure: Flunearyou map data

Germ Tracker, another information gathering site, can track the spread of influenza viruses through maps. This is useful for monitoring the spread of viruses in a given region. The only disadvantage of using social media to filter data is that the application could be abused by neurotic people to report cases of influenza that do not exist at all. Some remedies are also being launched, such as a flu app that scans Facebook, and if it finds the words "flu", "cough" and "sneeze," people living in the same community will be reminded to avoid contact with people who have already shown flu symptoms.

Flu Trends, a flu tracker from Google. It monitors flu-related search words and shows flu activity in different states. A map of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can also show the extent of the spread of influenza outbreaks. And FluView, a tracking tool that receives and processes a large amount of data from doctors, hospitals and CDC laboratories, provides a clear picture of the spread of the flu pandemic, which can help doctors effectively stop the spread of the flu pandemic. (After entering Google Flu trends, click on the area of the map to show the severity of the flu)

Google explores global influenza trends

Google has found that certain search terms can well indicate the status of the flu pandemic. The Google Flu trend uses a summary of Google's search data estimates to measure influenza outbreaks.

US Flu Trends Chart

PostScript：

In fact, for the United States in the field of influenza prevention and control work done, the Chinese CDC and related departments should be able to learn, a good disease surveillance information system, can really help control the spread of the epidemic, for our treatment and prevention work to win more time. After all, we do not want to repeat the tragedy of SARS!

(Responsible editor: The good of the Legacy)