Ebola on the Internet: The Digital Health Warning from Boston to West Africa

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With a 60% spike in reported cases over the past two weeks, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa continues to spread at a frightening rate. Physicians, disaster relief responders and the World Health Organization (WHO) alike remain unsure of how to stop the deadliest outbreak to date—but one Boston-bred digital health company could have predicted it was coming. HealthMap, a team of researchers, epidemiologists, and software developers at Boston Children’s Hospital, has been conducting online outbreak monitoring and real-time surveillance of emerging public health threats since its founding in 2006. According to a recent article published in TIME Magazine, HealthMap had already alerted key U.S. government agencies about West Africa’s Ebola outbreak days before the WHO first announced it.

Using its online program, HealthMap is able to deliver aggregated intelligence on a range of emerging infectious diseases. In creating this app, HealthMap scours social media, online news sources and eyewitness reports for early signs of disease outbreaks. In bringing these data together, HealthMap achieves a unified view of current infectious diseases, their effects on human health, and can share these views with the public via a mobile app called “Outbreaks Near Me.”

Regarding the Ebola outbreak, HealthMap accessed a Kenyan news report on 23 deaths due to hemorrhagic fever in March, and promptly notified U.S. officials. Although action was not taken after this initial report, it appears that online technology has improved the ability to detect and track outbreaks. As of now, most major U.S. government agencies subscribe to Healthmap.org’s daily email alerts and online postings.

Sources: TIME Magazine and NPR

Check out HealthMap’s website here for more information.

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