“Mapping could stop Ebola’s spread”
“My research and method can be used to report the current state of a pandemic, or predict how extensive the spread will be, and where the disease will strike next”, Lars Skog, researcher in Geoinformatics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and guest in Crosstalks on pandemics, Nov 27 at 6 PM CET.
Whether it’s the Black Death of 1350 or the Ebola virus in West Africa, one thing deadly pandemics have in common is that their progress takes a geographical course. But researcher Lars Skog at KTH Royal Institute of Technology is one of those developing geoinformation systems that can help health workers predict the spread of a disease and stop it.
With the tool below, created by Lars Skog, you can see the spreading of the Asiatic Influenza in Sweden in 1957-58.
Hi’s research has produced a method that medical professionals can use to visualise the geographical distribution of a disease over time. In his research, Skog has explored the relationship between geography and disease distribution in major epidemics of the past, including the Black Death, the Russian Flu pandemic of 1889, the Asiatic Influenza of 1957 and the swine flu. He says the historical data provides a basis for predicting the course of future epidemics and pandemics. Listen to Lars Skog describing his research in the clip below.
Click here to find more information on how Lars Skog’s research has found solutions where mapping could stop Ebola’s spread.
