How big data Is being used to fight infectious disease threats

We hear all the time about innovative and interesting things that big data can be used for, but it’s rare we actually get to experience it for ourselves. With recent events, however, that may be changing. Medical information — or big data — extracted from health records, Internet resources, social media and even some other sources is being used to combat infectious diseases and deadly outbreaks. This is extremely important, because in the past, physical information such as laboratory test results and public health records have been the focus. However, there are some disadvantages with using traditional information. First, it’s expensive to produce, and it wastes a lot of paper. Additionally, due to the nature of the medium, it can come with some serious time lags. The information has to be printed, then the materials must be sent to wherever they’re needed physically. This is not the case with digital information and big...