New software to predict spread of diseases
Friday, 15 June 2007
IBM has announced new software that helps to predict the spread of infectious diseases across countries and around the globe, bdnews24.com.
It enables the rapid creation of epidemiological models, which predict how diseases, such as avian influenza or dengue fever spread over time.
Known as Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeler (STEM), the software can be downloaded without cost and the open source community are able to customise it.
"Until now, it has been difficult to simulate health crisis scenarios on a global scale. STEM gives us the power to do that," said IBM engineer Joseph Jasinski.
He said STEM would allow public health officials to model the spread of a disease much like modelling a storm or hurricane. "It allows us to produce a public health 'weather map' for the spread of a particular disease."
IBM scientists from across the globe created STEM after nearly three years of research and development.
STEM runs on any computer operating system and creates a graphical representation of the spread of a disease based on a variety of parameters such as population, geographic and macro-economic data, roadmaps, airport locations, travel patterns and bird migratory routes around the world.
IBM provides a basic epidemiological model framework to software developers, who can customise and configure the models based on their specific requirements. These models, which involve multiple populations and interactions between diseases, can help public health experts develop more effective preparedness plans.
STEM is one of the key technologies being utilised in the Global Pandemic Initiative, a collaborative effort formed by IBM and over twenty major worldwide public health institutions to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
IBM's donation is also intended to help facilitate collaboration between governments, scientific researchers and other players in the public health community.
The new software can be downloaded from www. eclipse.org/ohf/components/stem/.
It enables the rapid creation of epidemiological models, which predict how diseases, such as avian influenza or dengue fever spread over time.
Known as Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeler (STEM), the software can be downloaded without cost and the open source community are able to customise it.
"Until now, it has been difficult to simulate health crisis scenarios on a global scale. STEM gives us the power to do that," said IBM engineer Joseph Jasinski.
He said STEM would allow public health officials to model the spread of a disease much like modelling a storm or hurricane. "It allows us to produce a public health 'weather map' for the spread of a particular disease."
IBM scientists from across the globe created STEM after nearly three years of research and development.
STEM runs on any computer operating system and creates a graphical representation of the spread of a disease based on a variety of parameters such as population, geographic and macro-economic data, roadmaps, airport locations, travel patterns and bird migratory routes around the world.
IBM provides a basic epidemiological model framework to software developers, who can customise and configure the models based on their specific requirements. These models, which involve multiple populations and interactions between diseases, can help public health experts develop more effective preparedness plans.
STEM is one of the key technologies being utilised in the Global Pandemic Initiative, a collaborative effort formed by IBM and over twenty major worldwide public health institutions to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
IBM's donation is also intended to help facilitate collaboration between governments, scientific researchers and other players in the public health community.
The new software can be downloaded from www. eclipse.org/ohf/components/stem/.