{"id":37791,"date":"2019-07-29T15:49:32","date_gmt":"2019-07-29T19:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/?p=37791"},"modified":"2021-07-20T08:36:02","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T12:36:02","slug":"tracking-tuberculosis-through-cell-phone-location-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/tracking-tuberculosis-through-cell-phone-location-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracking tuberculosis through cell phone location data"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”text-container”]Cellphones make a lot of things easier\u2014keeping in touch with family, finding directions to the closest gas station, taking photos of everyday life.<\/p>\n

But for the University of Georgia\u2019s Christopher Whalen<\/a>, cellphones may also hold the key to tracking how tuberculosis spreads through communities in Africa.<\/p>\n

Tuberculosis is the ninth leading cause of death worldwide and the No. 1 deadliest infectious disease on the planet.<\/p>\n

Despite the arrival of a vaccine in 1921, effective treatment options since 1952, and numerous disease prevention campaigns, tuberculosis remains uncontrolled in many parts of the world, especially in low- and middle-income countries.<\/p>\n

Disease burden is a measurement that tries to quantify the impact of a health problem (cost, mortality, etc.). In sub-Saharan Africa, the burden of tuberculosis, or TB, is high and made worse because of the HIV epidemic. New cases of TB number in the millions each year throughout the African continent.<\/p>\n

As a physician and an epidemiologist, Whalen has dedicated his career to preventing the spread of the TB.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo make progress in curbing the epidemic of tuberculosis, new cases must be prevented,\u201d said Whalen, the Holbrook Distinguished Professor in Global Health and director of the Global Health Institute at UGA\u2019s College of Public Health.<\/p>\n

The standard approach to tuberculosis control today relies on detection and treatment, but this approach doesn\u2019t work in areas where the disease burden is high and new cases are numerous. As Whalen explained, \u201cBy the time a case is diagnosed and treated, the next generation of cases has already been newly infected.\u201d<\/p>\n

African countries accounted for almost one out of every four new cases of TB worldwide in 2017, according to the World Health Organization. The rate is even higher in urban settings, like Uganda\u2019s capital city of Kampala.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html el_class=”container”]JTNDaWZyYW1lJTIwd2lkdGglM0QlMjIxMDAlMjUlMjIlMjBoZWlnaHQlM0QlMjI3MDAlMjIlMjBzcmMlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnd3dy55b3V0dWJlLmNvbSUyRmVtYmVkJTJGd01adUxJek9rSjQlM0ZyZWwlM0QwJTIyJTIwdGl0bGUlM0QlMjJZb3VUdWJlJTIwdmlkZW8lMjBwbGF5ZXIlMjIlMjBmcmFtZWJvcmRlciUzRCUyMjAlMjIlMjBhbGxvdyUzRCUyMmFjY2VsZXJvbWV0ZXIlM0IlMjBhdXRvcGxheSUzQiUyMGNsaXBib2FyZC13cml0ZSUzQiUyMGVuY3J5cHRlZC1tZWRpYSUzQiUyMGd5cm9zY29wZSUzQiUyMHBpY3R1cmUtaW4tcGljdHVyZSUyMiUyMGFsbG93ZnVsbHNjcmVlbiUzRSUzQyUyRmlmcmFtZSUzRQ==[\/vc_raw_html][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text el_class=”text-container”]For over 30 years, Whalen has been working with colleagues at Makerere University in Kampala to discover better ways of limiting TB\u2019s spread.<\/p>\n

Beginning in the 1990s, Whalen and a team of Ugandan scientists performed some of the first epidemiological studies on the effect of the HIV epidemic on its sister epidemic of TB in high-burden communities.<\/p>\n

They formalized the standard public health practice of contact tracing\u2014 identifying and gathering information about any person who comes into contact with an infected patient\u2014as a research tool to learn how TB spreads both inside a household and within social networks.<\/p>\n

In 2018, he was awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health to map the TB transmission in Kampala using a combination of patient lab samples and cellphone records.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is carrying a cellphone,\u201d said Whalen. \u201cBy using archived cell phone records, we can map where TB cases move and measure how much time (patients) spent in different places.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team will integrate this data with a genomic profile of the M. tuberculosis bacteria from patient lab samples. Through genomic testing, Whalen can trace one unique tuberculosis bacterium through communities, and the cellphone data provides a timeline for where and when new patients are infected.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur world today is an increasingly interrelated global community,\u201d said Whalen. \u201cThe diseases that threaten one community, one place, do not respect geographical boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whalen\u2019s work not only changes the game for TB prevention in Uganda but also protects communities across the globe.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_section css=”.vc_custom_1567780280331{background-color: #000000 !important;}” el_class=”white research-spotlight”][vc_row el_class=”text-container”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”37792″ img_size=”200×200″ alignment=”right” style=”vc_box_circle_2″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_raw_html css=”.vc_custom_1567780668979{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]JTNDcCUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIyc3ViaGVhZGluZyUyMiUzRUFib3V0JTIwdGhlJTIwUmVzZWFyY2hlciUzQyUyRnAlM0U=[\/vc_raw_html][vc_column_text el_class=”white”]<\/p>\n

Christopher Whalen<\/h3>\n

Director, Global Health Institute
\nErnest Corn Professor of Infectious Disease
\nUGA Distinguished Research Professor
\nEpidemiology
\nCollege of Public Health<\/p>\n

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Support Tuberculosis Research<\/h2>\n

Donate to the Global Health Institute fund<\/p>\n

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