Targeting mosquito-borne disease with data

Abundance of data has created new ways to gather insights All eyes are on Rio as much for Olympic highlights as it is for the unfolding Zika health crisis. But with 42 countries and territories reporting confirmed local, vector-borne transmission of the virus, the risk may be closer to home. Infectious diseases are now spreading geographically much faster than at any time in history and appear to be emerging more quickly than ever before says the World Health Organization. With an expected 3.6 billion airline passengers in 2016, an outbreak from any part of the world may be just hours away from a gate near you. Disease surveillance continues to be crucial to global health. The latest weapon, big data, is providing public health officials with new opportunities to predict and prevent disease outbreaks. To that end, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a prominent research organization based in Rio, will employ data analytics to...