Social Media and Biosurveillance- The New Frontier of Public Health

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Een interessante internet ontwikkeling: een shortcut 'om de autoriteiten
heen.'
Kennelijk kon het netwerk de drukte niet aan, het adres is onbereikbaar.

Groet / Cees

PS. Die gasten zitten ook in Roemenie:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/for-la-gloria-the-stench-of-blame-is-from-pig-factories-1675809.html

Starting in February, one in six of the 3,000 residents reported health
problems. The government initially dismissed the spike as a late-season
rise in ordinary flu, but by April, health officials sealed off the town
and sprayed chemicals to kill the flies that residents said were swarming
about their homes.

The business practices of Smithfield are a far cry from its origins,
lovingly recounted in sepia-tinted prose on its corporate website. "The
Luter family of Smithfield, Virginia, has been curing and selling hams
since the turn of the century," it says.

The reports of swarming flies, terrible smells and pictures of rotting
pigs left scattered around the perimeter of its industrialised pig farms
in Mexico are echoes of the concerns that have long been troubling
environmental activisits, campaigning against Smithfield in all the
countries in which it operates, not least in the US. Critics say that –
even on top of any questions about the humane treatment of the pigs – the
sheer quantities of manure that have to be disposed of when thousands, or
tens of thousands, of animals are housed together make it impossible to
run this business in a safe way.

The manure is collected in a lake underneath the pig pens and then washed
into giant pools or lagoons. It is eventually sprayed on nearby fields,
but the lagoons have a habit of leaking or flooding.

In 1997 Smithfield was fined $12.6m for violation of the federal Clean
Water Act. Its most recent financial reports show it is being sued in
Missouri by residents near a facility there who accuse it of being a
public nuisance, while a farm in Pennsylvania is under federal
investigation over releases into the local water in 2007.

The other risk, scientists say, of concentrating so many pigs together is
the risk of diseases spreading fast, a problem that farmers overcome by
pumping the livestock full of vaccines and other drugs. In 2007 an
outbreak of swine flu at its farms in Romania cost the company $13m.

=======================================================================
http://biosurveillance.typepad.com/biosurveillance/2009/04/social-media-and-biosurveillance-the-new-frontier-of-public-health.html

Social Media and Biosurveillance- The New Frontier of Public Health and
the Launch of the Veratect-Ozmosis Partnership

As I left the operations center this evening, we faced at least 33
countries reporting suspect cases of swine flu, and 7 countries with
laboratory-confirmed cases.  Indeed, no one knows the true extent of this
global crisis yet.  Clearly, detection and tracking of swine flu events
now is a monstrously complicated undertaking.

So, in partnership with Ozmosis, a leading physician’s social network in
the United States, we have decided to take the social media revolution in
biosurveillance to another level: connecting the Veratect early warning
information directly to our nation’s physicians.

Previously I talked about our use of Twitter to disseminate near-real time
information from 37 of the world’s languages about the current global
swine flu crisis.  The problem with Twitter, though, is you sacrifice
speed for character length (limit= 140 characters).  Well, thanks to
Ozmosis, we have created a joint portal for Ozmosis’ physician community
whereby they can have full access to Veratect’s detailed reports and be
able to respond and add information.

This marks the advent of the 21st century in public health, where early
warning information about the world is brought to the fingertips of the
community physician in near-real time.  It is our belief the power of
social networking will more efficiently marry situational awareness with
physicians’ daily lives and encourage better reporting of disease events
that could negatively affect our communities, our country, and indeed, our
world.


.Stay tuned for the world to change.



Ozmosis twitter feed : www.twitter.com/ozmosis

**********
Dit bericht is verzonden via de informele D66 discussielijst (D66 at nic.surfnet.nl).
Aanmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SUBSCRIBE D66 uwvoornaam uwachternaam
Afmelden: stuur een email naar LISTSERV at nic.surfnet.nl met in het tekstveld alleen: SIGNOFF D66
Het on-line archief is te vinden op: http://listserv.surfnet.nl/archives/d66.html
**********