Snowy Owl
Retired in 2010, In Memoriam
[FONT=Helvetica, Arial]Software detects disease outbreaks
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060915.H07&irec=6
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http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailnational.asp?fileid=20060915.H07&irec=6
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]The Health Ministry is introducing a system designed to detect possible outbreaks of communicable diseases.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] The system is expected to help local and national authorities take precautionary measures against infectious illnesses.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] It uses software that identifies trends in symptoms that can point to an outbreak of a particular disease, based on the cumulative results of patients' medical diagnoses. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "All diagnosis data from doctors is entered into the computer. The software will automatically classify data about the patients' temperature, headache, stomachache, respiratory problems and other symptoms," Endang R. Sedyaningsih of the Health Ministry's research and development unit told The Jakarta Post on Thursday after addressing a symposium on science and technology.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] The symposium, sponsored by Indonesia's State Ministry for Research and Technology and the Australian government, brought together scientists from the two countries to discuss topics related to biotechnology, agriculture, energy, water and health.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Endang said doctors and officials could use the data to determine the most frequent health complaints, and ascertain what kinds of outbreaks might be occurring.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "The software can analyze, for instance, how many people have had a high temperature and a fever or stomachache at the same time in the last several months or years. The more frequent the combined symptoms of high temperature, headache and skin rash, for example, the more likely a dengue fever outbreak can be detected early," she said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Local authorities could then take action to prevent a pandemic.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Indonesia is battling several communicable diseases. They include bird flu, dengue fever, malaria and chikungunya, which claim hundreds and sometimes thousands of lives per year.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Experts say the high fatality rate from these diseases is caused partly by late detection and treatment. They say thousands of dengue patients, for example, have died because they were brought to the hospital very late; their families thought they were suffering from an ordinary fever.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Endang said the early detection system has been applied in several provinces across Indonesia.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "Now, we are using the system only in big hospitals. Later, we will use it for community health centers at the district level because it only requires a computer and Internet," she said.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] John S. Mackenzie, a tropical infectious diseases specialist from the Curtin University of Technology in Australia, said Australian scientists were working on an early detection system for avian influenza.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "We have a number of people coming here to help Indonesia deal with bird flu and other communicable diseases. We have to have a good surveillance system in place as soon as possible, for instance, to try to detect bird flu as early as possible before it becomes a pandemic," he told the Post on the sidelines of the symposium.[/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]The Health Ministry is introducing a system designed to detect possible outbreaks of communicable diseases.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica] The system is expected to help local and national authorities take precautionary measures against infectious illnesses.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] It uses software that identifies trends in symptoms that can point to an outbreak of a particular disease, based on the cumulative results of patients' medical diagnoses. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "All diagnosis data from doctors is entered into the computer. The software will automatically classify data about the patients' temperature, headache, stomachache, respiratory problems and other symptoms," Endang R. Sedyaningsih of the Health Ministry's research and development unit told The Jakarta Post on Thursday after addressing a symposium on science and technology.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] The symposium, sponsored by Indonesia's State Ministry for Research and Technology and the Australian government, brought together scientists from the two countries to discuss topics related to biotechnology, agriculture, energy, water and health.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Endang said doctors and officials could use the data to determine the most frequent health complaints, and ascertain what kinds of outbreaks might be occurring.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "The software can analyze, for instance, how many people have had a high temperature and a fever or stomachache at the same time in the last several months or years. The more frequent the combined symptoms of high temperature, headache and skin rash, for example, the more likely a dengue fever outbreak can be detected early," she said. [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Local authorities could then take action to prevent a pandemic.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Indonesia is battling several communicable diseases. They include bird flu, dengue fever, malaria and chikungunya, which claim hundreds and sometimes thousands of lives per year.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Experts say the high fatality rate from these diseases is caused partly by late detection and treatment. They say thousands of dengue patients, for example, have died because they were brought to the hospital very late; their families thought they were suffering from an ordinary fever.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] Endang said the early detection system has been applied in several provinces across Indonesia.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "Now, we are using the system only in big hospitals. Later, we will use it for community health centers at the district level because it only requires a computer and Internet," she said.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] John S. Mackenzie, a tropical infectious diseases specialist from the Curtin University of Technology in Australia, said Australian scientists were working on an early detection system for avian influenza.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica] "We have a number of people coming here to help Indonesia deal with bird flu and other communicable diseases. We have to have a good surveillance system in place as soon as possible, for instance, to try to detect bird flu as early as possible before it becomes a pandemic," he told the Post on the sidelines of the symposium.[/FONT]
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