Posted on 04/13/2010 9:17:32 PM PDT by smokingfrog
A new online global map could soon help scientists better track and predict outbreaks of infectious diseases like H1N1 much the same way meteorologists can study and forecast the weather. The "Supramap" application illustrates the spread of pathogens and key mutations across time, space and various hosts on a Google Earth map, researchers reported April 9 in the early online edition of Cladistics.
Using data on the sequenced genetic code of H1N1 and other viruses, the evolutionary and geographic map enables tracking of how a virus moves from its origins to different hosts around the world. "Essentially, it's like a weather map of disease," Daniel Janies, Ohio State associate biomedical informatics professor, says in a YouTube video he and his colleagues created to highlight Supramap's capabilities. "What we're able to do with Google Earth is put that in context."
With Supramap, users can submit raw viral genetic sequences and get back a phylogenetic tree of pathogen strains. The resulting tree is then projected by Supramap onto a map of the globe and can be viewed with Google Earth. Each branch in the evolutionary tree is geo-located and time-stamped. Pop-up windows and colored branches show how pathogen strains mutate over space and time and infect new hosts. "If we can get the picture early on of how the virus is evolving to drugs, we can change our strategies, such as using non-pharmaceutical interventions," Janies says.
(Excerpt) Read more at scientificamerican.com ...
If Obama can slow the economy enough, there will be very little inter-village travel, very little inter-city travel and almost no international travel. This will slow the spread of pathogens. We will not have to worry about pandemics. That Obama is a genius!
Give me a break - after the H1N1 Flue fiasco some so called ‘scientist’ is going to try and peddle this crap!
I am sure this will be useful to someone.
New online map can forecast the location and intensity of global warming mental disease outbreaks
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