How Did They Know??

Did you ever wonder how researchers know so quickly that Ebola was going to be a major outbreak? It turns out that being connected to a World Wide Web has its advantages in the area of epidemiology. As with Google's Flu Trends website that has been running for several years recording and predicting flu outbreaks, computer analysis of Internet reports, have again been useful in  predicting a "mystery hemorrhagic fever" a week before the spread began.

In the article, "How an algorithm detected the Ebola outbreak a week early, and what it could do next" on the TechRepublic website, author Lyndsey Gilpin discusses HealthMap, which is described as "a data mapping tool that detects and tracks diseases across the world."

Read the article to learn more about Healthmap and the Ebola Epidemic: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/how-an-algorithm-detected-the-ebola-outbreak-a-week-early-and-what-it-could-do-next/