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跟踪流感的新手段

As influenza¹ season peaks in the United States, one researcher is working to bring the public into tracking the epidemic². Using new technology, he may be able to provide public health officials with useful information more quickly than the usual methods. And he is applying the new tools to study disease outbreaks around the world.

随着美国进入流感高峰季节，一位研究人员正在用一种新技术跟踪流感传播，这种新技术不但可以更快地为公共卫生官员提供有用的信息，还可以用来研究全世界疾病爆发。

Boston Children's Hospital epidemiologist John Brownstein is literally³ pinning down where the flu outbreak is occurring. “All the pins represent the people who are reporting to the system," he said.

波士顿儿童医院的约翰?布朗斯坦：“每个图钉代表登记在系统里的人。”

The sea of pins on his virtual U.S. map represents the nationwide network of volunteers for his website, Flu Near You. "The idea is, getting people with a small amount of time each week to tell us how they're feeling," he said.

波士顿儿童医院传染病医生约翰?布朗斯坦用图钉盯住流感爆发地，这张虚拟美国地图上的图钉海洋代表了为他网站工作的全国义工网络。他的网站叫做“你身边的流感”。约翰?布朗斯坦说：“这个设想是，每个星期让人们用少量时间来告诉我们他们的感受。”

A short weekly email survey asks each person about his or her health. In just a few months, Flu Near You has recruited 40,000 volunteers and keeps growing.

在每周一次的电子短信中，调查人员请人们回答他们的健康状况。短短几个月，“你身边的流感”网站就发展了4万个义工，而且人数在继续增加。

“So we say, putting the public back in public health," said Brownstein.

约翰?布朗斯坦说：“我们说，让公众回到公共卫生领域。”

Hospitals and doctors' offices were seeing rising numbers of flu cases in late December, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. But Brownstein says he is ahead of the others in terms of information.

据美国疾病控制和预防中心报告，12月下旬，医院和诊所的流感病人不断增加，可是布朗斯坦说，他的信息更新。

“And Flu Near You is showing that we've already peaked and are heading down. And in fact the latest numbers that are coming out from the CDC actually agree that this has already come down," he said.

约翰?布朗斯坦说：“‘你身边的流感’网站显示，流感高峰已经过了，正在逐渐下降。事实上，疾病控制和预防中心即将公布的最新数据也显示流感病例在减少。”

Brownstein plans to take the system global and expand it to other diseases.

布朗斯坦打算向全球推广这个系统，并且用在其他疾病的研究上。

He currently runs another website, HealthMap, that for seven years has tracked outbreaks worldwide.

他目前管理的另一个叫做“健康地图”的网站7年来跟踪全世界疫情爆发情况。

He says as a graduate student he grew weary of begging health ministers for information. “And so we had this idea, well, what if we mined the Web looking for clues about outbreaks via news, social media, blogs, chat rooms, discussion forums," he said.

他说，当研究生时，他厌倦了向健康管理人员乞讨信息的处境。约翰?布朗斯坦说：“所以我们产生了这个设想，不如我们从网上，比如新闻网、社交媒体、博客、聊天室和论坛上来寻找疾病爆发的线索。”

In Haiti's deadly 2010 cholera⁴ outbreak, HealthMap's automated⁵ Web searches provided early information on the trajectory⁶ of the disease.

2010年海地霍乱爆发，“健康地图”网站自动化搜索功能提供了疫情动态的早期信息。

Today, he is following an ebola outbreak in Uganda. “We think there's opportunities to really track emerging infectious diseases with these tools," he said.

今天，布朗斯坦正在跟踪乌干达的埃博拉病毒疫情。约翰?布朗斯坦说：“我们认为，用这些工具可以有机会跟踪萌发中的传染病。”

Tools that pinpoint⁷ where diseases are occurring now.

这些工具准确指出疾病的发生地点。