New tool to track human infectious diseases in Australia

Researchers at CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, have developed a new tool to understand how human infectious diseases found overseas might spread in Australia. Using data from dengue virus outbreaks in Queensland as a case study, the tool identifies and tracks new cases of infection to their original source in Australia, and links how the disease has transferred between people. It provides new insight into the behaviour of human diseases brought into Australia and is part of the broader Disease Networks and Mobility (DiNeMo) project aimed at developing a real-time alert and surveillance system for human infectious diseases. CSIRO researcher Dr Dean Paini said the tool aims to help protect Australia against the increasing risk of infectious diseases like dengue and measles, which have already sparked numerous health alerts across the country this year. “Although Australia is relatively disease-free compared to other regions of the world, diseases are brought in through infected people who...