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The Internet may have contained early warning signs of Canada’s recent listeriosis outbreak, according to an analysis co-authored by Dr. Kumanan Wilson, associate professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Public Health Policy.
The analysis, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, shows that Internet searches in 2008 using the word “listeriosis” spiked in mid- to late July, almost a month before the outbreak was publicly declared.
“Internet scanning represents an important advancement in health surveillance, and search-term surveillance is a provocative new tool that has much potential. But both these tools merit further evaluation,” conclude Dr. Wilson and Dr. John Brownstein, who is affiliated with Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School. “Most importantly, these technologies may provide significant benefits to outbreak control at local, national and international levels, ultimately reducing the health consequences of these outbreaks.”
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April 25th, 2009UncategorizedThe Internet may have contained early warning signs of Canada’s recent listeriosis outbreak, according to an analysis co-authored by Dr. Kumanan Wilson, associate professor of medicine at the University of Ottawa and holder of the Canada Research Chair in Public Health Policy.