Research & Development World

  • Home Page
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Archeology
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Chemistry
    • COVID-19
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Market Pulse
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
      • Software
    • Semiconductors
  • 2021 R&D 100 Award Winners
    • R&D 100 Awards
    • 2020 Winners
    • Winner Archive
  • Resources
    • Digital Issues
    • Podcasts
    • Subscribe
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Webinars

Forecasting the Flu: Big and Traditional Data Combo Improves Prediction

By R&D Editors | January 30, 2015

Network Map of Influenza Correlations between HHS Regions. Nodes and ties created using GEPHI social network visualization software. Courtesy of the researchersThree UC San Diego researchers say they can predict the spread of flu a week into the future with as much accuracy as Google Flu Trends can display levels of infection right now.

The study — appearing in Scientific Reports, an online journal from the publishers of Nature — uses social network analysis and combines the power of Google Flu Trends’ big data with traditional flu monitoring data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“Our innovation,” said corresponding author Michael Davidson, a doctoral student in political science at UC San Diego, “is to construct a network of ties between different U.S. health regions based on information from the CDC. We asked: Which places in years past got the flu at about the same time? That told us which regions of the country have the strongest ties, or connections, and gave us the analytic power to improve Google’s predictions.”

Google Flu Trends (GFT) is very good, Davidson said, at showing where in the U.S. people are searching for information on flu and flu-like symptoms. And these data are valuable because they come in real time, he said, about two weeks ahead of when the CDC can issue its reports. But GFT has also made some infamous errors — errors that probably reflect widespread public concerns about flu more than actual confirmed illness.

By weighting GFT predictions with a social network derived from CDC reports on laboratory-tested cases of flu, the researchers were able to refine and improve GFT’s predictions.

The researchers are optimistic their work will soon be put to public use. “We hope our method will be implemented by epidemiologists and data scientists,” Davidson said, “to better target prevention and treatment efforts, especially during epidemics.”

Davidson’s co-authors are Dotan A. Haim, who is also a political science graduate student at UC San Diego, and Jennifer M. Radin, of the UC San Diego/San Diego State University Joint Doctoral Program in Public Health.

The study was funded in part by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the James S. McDonnell Foundation

Related Articles Read More >

ENPICOM launches display solution to accelerate antibody selection while maximizing precision
Groundbreaking research could help paramedics save the lives of pedestrian casualties 
R&D 100 winner of the day: Slycat
R&D 100 winner of the day: dGen
2021 R&D Global Funding Forecast

Need R&D World news in a minute?

We Deliver!
R&D World Enewsletters get you caught up on all the mission critical news you need in research and development. Sign up today.
Enews Signup

R&D World Digital Issues

February 2020 issue

Browse the most current issue of R&D World and back issues in an easy to use high quality format. Clip, share and download with the leading R& magazine today.

Research & Development World
  • Subscribe to R&D World Magazine
  • Enews Sign Up
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing
  • 2021 Global Funding Forecast

Copyright © 2022 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | Advertising | About Us

Search R&D World

  • Home Page
  • Topics
    • Aerospace
    • Archeology
    • Automotive
    • Biotech
    • Chemistry
    • COVID-19
    • Environment
    • Energy
    • Life Science
    • Material Science
    • R&D Market Pulse
    • R&D Management
    • Physics
  • Technology
    • 3D Printing
    • A.I./Robotics
    • Battery Technology
    • Controlled Environments
      • Cleanrooms
      • Graphene
      • Lasers
      • Regulations/Standards
      • Sensors
    • Imaging
    • Nanotechnology
    • Scientific Computing
      • Big Data
      • HPC/Supercomputing
      • Informatics
      • Security
      • Software
    • Semiconductors
  • 2021 R&D 100 Award Winners
    • R&D 100 Awards
    • 2020 Winners
    • Winner Archive
  • Resources
    • Digital Issues
    • Podcasts
    • Subscribe
  • Global Funding Forecast
  • Webinars