Social media novel source of data on infectious diseases

At a time when new infectious diseases are emerging more frequently, social media platforms have become an important source of information. Along with the increased availability of formal data such as geographical and animal surveillance data, novel technologies, such as social networking sites, are being used to gather, analyze and interpret infectious disease-related data, and are changing the landscape of global infectious disease surveillance, said Abla Mawudeku, chief of the Public Health Infrastructure at Canada’s Public Health Agency. Mawudeka was speaking during an APEC conference on Friday in Taipei, with participants discussing topics such as changes made to the public health emergency response systems and the innovation and application of health information technology. The recent outbreak of H7N9 avian influenza has demonstrated a paradigm shift in information dissemination and communication concerning infectious diseases, Mawudeku said, as “countries and international organizations such as the WHO used social media, especially Twitter, as the official medium...