After deploying life-saving cholera-prediction systems in Africa and Asia, a University of Florida researcher is turning his attention to the pathogen-plagued waters off Florida’s Gulf Coast.
In the fight to end cholera deaths by 2030 – a goal set by the World Health Organization – UF researcher and professor Antar Jutla, Ph.D., has deployed his Cholera Risk Dashboard in about 20 countries, most recently in Kenya. Using NASA and NOAA satellite images and artificial intelligence algorithms, the dashboard is an interactive web interface that pinpoints areas ripe for thriving cholera bacteria.
It can predict cholera risk four weeks out, allowing early and proactive humanitarian efforts, medical preparation and health warnings. Cholera is a bacterial disease spread through contaminated food and water; it causes severe intestinal issues and can be fatal if untreated. The US Centers for Disease Control reports between 21,000 and 143,000 cholera deaths each year globally.
Make no mistake, the Cholera Risk Dashboard saves lives, existing users contend.
His team now wants to set up a similar pathogen-monitoring and disease-prediction system for pathogenic bacteria in the warm, pathogen-fertile waters of the Gulf of America.
“Its timeliness, its predictiveness and its ease of access to the right data is a game changer in responding to outbreaks and preventing potentially catastrophic occurrences.”
-Linet Kwamboka Nyang’au,
Senior program manager for Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data