Infectious Diseases

Infectious disease would refer to virus, fungus and bacteria that can cause disease. These conditions are an increasing problem for healthcare systems and governments. Information technology and collaborations in software can help prevent the spread of disease and improve quality of care for patients by developing a system that puts into effect an infectious disease reporting and management system for the 21st century.

This type of disease surveillance is a critical component of public health.

The Canadian government and other organizations have used versions of these data-collection and health sites to detect early signs of the SARS virus in China. The Canadian service, the Global Public Health Intelligence Network, automatically scans Web sites and news sources in seven languages for information on disease outbreaks, contaminated food and water, natural disasters and other health risks around the world. It charges a fee based on the type of organization that accesses it and its usage.

At Harvard Medical School's Children's Hospital Boston, a site called HealthMap crawls through 24,000 Web sites looking for disease-related terms. Results appear on a world map, which has colored markers for dengue fever, avian flu and other diseases.

Disease surveillance networks are not a new activity, they have been in existence since the mid 1960s. The use of information technology allows for more sophisticated data analysis and dissemination of information, worldwide.