Remember the SARS outbreak in 2003? The one that killed 800 people? Imagine if that were to come back. Or worse yt, imagine something just as bad coming here for the first time. Now imagine the spread and symptoms of this disease could me extrapolated and the disease itself stopped by a database. You may say I'm a dreamer, but clearly I'm not the only one.
Back in June, a 60-year-old man died in his hospital bed in Saudi Arabia a mere 11 days after being admitted. He began with a bizarre case thought to be pneumonia, until his kidneys failed. An analysis of some of his sputum produced evidence of a novel coronavirus, a dangerous pathogen linked to the SARS outbreak. The researcher who discovered this, Dr. Ali Mohamed Zaki, decided to post his findings on a website called ProMed, raising awareness and actually finding another victim in another country. No further cases have been confirmed and the second patient is still alive, but a test has been synthesized and doctors across the globe remain vigilant.
This article shows how information systems can be used to better human lives (in stark contrast to last week's topic). Detection of the virus was one thing, but the ability to post it on the web and inform others led to the second diagnosis and thus a test for the virus. Information sharing is vital for the day-to-day operation of pretty much any organization; and given what the WHO does, we can be thankful for that.
Article found here
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