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Big Data vs. Infectious Disease

Posted on October 20th, 2017 by Tim Hoctor in Pharma R&D

With the many highly effective vaccines that have been created over the last several decades, it can be easy (particularly for those in America and other developed countries) to fall into the trap of thinking that we are living in a world where infectious disease is not that big of a threat.

But the truth is that these diseases continue to ravage many populations around the globe. What’s more, they have the potential to spread in unexpected places. Outbreaks like Ebola and the Zika virus, which have proven difficult and costly to fight, demonstrate how unprepared we are to treat pandemics.

Fortunately, there are many health and science experts who recognize the threat, and there are public health agencies, non-profits and some companies investing in research and working on developing new antibiotics and vaccines. Big data also has a vital role in helping to understand how the body is responding to an infectious disease and its treatment, which could be critically important in helping researchers fight an epidemic as its happening. However, though there is more than enough data available, better tools that can interpret and process that information are still needed.

Check out the article The Battle Against Infectious Disease to learn more about the dangers of infectious disease, how the pharma industry has affected anti-infective development and the work that is currently being done to be prepared for future outbreaks.

All opinions shared in this post are the author’s own.