New international health tools track disease online

The New England Journal of Medicine recently reported on the use of a new online international health tool tracking disease outbreaks around the globe. HealthMap is run by the Informatics Program at Children's Hospital Boston, and collates reports of disease outbreak and spread from around the world. Analyzing coverage of HealthMap's H1N1 coverage, they estimate 1 million people utilized it to monitor H1N1 during last year's extended flu season. In addition to their .org website, they can be followed on Facebook and Twitter, and they have iPhone and Android aps to search for an outbreak near you.

HealthMap is a fun browse for anyone interested in public or international health. It combines first hand reports with those gathered from news and official reports, along with blogs and other less formal sources. Reports appear on a world map, and are linked to the original source. Some recent reports include:

• Soldiers returning from Iraq have been reported to be infected with Q fever, a bacterial infection transmitted from animals. Though only 50% of infected humans show symptoms (which are similar to the flu) 1-2% of cases are fatal.


• Central Russia has had its first cases of polio in over 13 years, leading to fears of a possible outbreak.


• Part of Caracas, Venezuela, has recently seen at least 15 cases of parasitic chagas disease. Venezuela sees about 1500 new cases of chagas each year, with over 700 deaths.

Of course, there are weaknesses to this type of system. The source of some of the reports appears to be less than reliable, and practically anyone can submit a report. Reports go through an automated screening, but its unclear ow much human attention they get. This type of crowdsourced reporting is valuable if a deluge of reports flow in (indicating that something must be up), but its not clear whether volume plays a role in informal HealthMap reporting. Their free iPhone ap receives low ratings from users (two of five stars on average, with reviews highly polarized between lovers and haters.)

This is also not the only free, online international health service providing real time disease tracking. One of the best, whose reports are tracked by HealthMap, is ProMedMail, run by the International Society for Infectious Disease. Promedmail also receives reports from both international health experts in the field, and published reports. And they screen to assess the quality and validity of reports before posting. ProMedMail is available in multiple languages, including Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and Protugues. ProMedMail links to HealthMap's mapping feature.

Do such systems contribute meaningfully to international health efforts to track disease outbreaks? Probably yes: ProMedMail was the first surveillance system to report on the SARS outbreak. Epidemiologists can see where the latest cases of anthrax or Marburg fever has occurred. Jet-setting travelers can check for any dread diseases afflicting their next destination. Or disease voyeurs can simply marvel at the constant background level of contagious horrors afflicting the globe.