Researchers help China to better predict dengue fever outbreaks

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researchers have found the habit of Googling for an online diagnosis before visiting the doctor can be a powerful predictor of infectious diseases outbreaks. Now studies by the same Brisbane-based researchers show combining information from monitoring internet search metrics such as Baidu (China’s equivalent of Google), with a web-based infectious disease alert system from reported cases and environmental factors hold the key to improving early warning systems and reducing the deadly effects of dengue fever in China. Dr Wenbiao Hu, from QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, has spent more than 20 years working in the area of public health and infectious diseases, and said early detection was vital to reducing the impact of infectious diseases. He has been working closely with Dr Gabriel Milinovich also based at QUT and Professor Archie Clements from the Australian National University. “Dengue fever is the most rapidly spreading vector-borne disease –...