A new platform lets people follow dengue each month in 88 countries. A London research school built the tool and it uses data from WHO and a research project called OpenDengue.
The observatory watches countries that had at least five cases per month over the past five seasons. That rule leaves out places where dengue is still rare, for example France and Italy.
Reporting delays are a big problem, so researchers made algorithms to estimate final case numbers. Those corrections are used now for Latin America.
Difficult words
- platform — a website or system people can use
- observatory — a group or system that watches events
- season — a part of the year with similar weatherseasons
- delay — when something happens later than expecteddelays
- algorithm — a set of rules a computer followsalgorithms
- estimate — to make a best guess of a number
- correction — a change that makes information more accuratecorrections
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Would you use a platform like this to check dengue where you live? Why or why not?
- How can reporting delays make disease case numbers unclear?
- Do you think using algorithms to correct data is helpful? Why or why not?
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