Recently we released documentation provided to the US government regarding the world's first operational National Weather Service-inspired infectious disease forecasting center and the first such station in the United States.
One scientist from a US national laboratory called this the "SPRING REVOLUTION OF BIOSURVEILLANCE", with reference to the social media-facilitated Arab Spring, one of the biggest social events of the decade. We tend to agree (albeit with obvious bias), for we now view clinical medicine in an entirely different light.
I was recently at a Beacon Community conference, where Farzad Mostashari was present as a keynote speaker. With a bit of mischief in mind, I walked up to him, introduced myself with a small bit of operational background thrown in, and proceeded to tell him the first infectious disease forecasting station in US history was just activated in a Beacon Community participating clinic. Needless to say that got a few stares.
We engaged in a back and forth about what one would do with a forecast for asthma exacerbation (which, for some children, is triggered by infectious disease activity). He suggested a friendly call to the parent to remind them to use their inhaled steroid. I told him it may be even more compelling than that- in the most brittle asthmatics we may be looking at the prescription of oral steroids before the exacerbation has even begun. He said, "Prove the case."
Fair 'nuff. The Biosurveillance Spring has arrived.
Recent Comments