A US company emerging from a new digital system for epidemiological monitoring, relying on mechanized statistical models that work on powerful computers, and obtaining the information necessary to follow any epidemic in an instant, through millions of smart thermometers, which measure body temperature and other things 150 times daily And it transmits it instantly, using Bluetooth technology, to a special application on mobile phones, which in turn transmits them instantly to central databases, to provide the epidemiological monitoring system with primary health indicators for millions of people spread over a wide geographical area.

Kinsa, a company specialized in health care and public health systems, reported that the new system is being developed since 2012, noting that it has received several requests for use in the ongoing confrontation with the Corona epidemic, as it is a fast and effective tool that does in moments what centers do Control of diseases in weeks and months.

System components

Networkworld.com explained in a report recently published about the new system that it consists of smart scales for body temperature, as it is the most prominent indicator indicating the infection of viruses and microbes that cause epidemics and rapidly spreading infectious diseases, such as influenza and Corona, among others. Balances follow up with many other vital signs of the body, such as the level of sweating, pulse and blood pressure rates, and other indicators that provide a clearer and more accurate picture of the disease.

According to the report, thermometers are designed for people to wear without causing discomfort, as they can be placed behind the ear, or elsewhere in the body, to do their work capturing temperature, and other vital signs, as they are designed to do measurements 150 times. On the day, without the person feeling anything.

Special application

The second part of the system is a special application that is downloaded to mobile phones, and is supposed to work for the benefit of health authorities responsible for disease and epidemic control systems. Once the application is downloaded to the phone, the user makes a "pairing" between the phone and the application, and the smart thermometer the person wears, which is a simple process, similar to the "pairing" process between the wireless speaker and the mobile device.

Then the data is transferred and exchanged between the smart thermometer, the phone and the application via Bluetooth technology. Each time the data reaches the application, it categorizes and indexes it, in the way prepared by epidemiologists, and those responsible for controlling infectious diseases, and then transferred to the responsible health authority.

Databases

These steps represent the stage of "instantaneous data feeding" for the central system, and by reaching the competent health authority, entering the system's databases, to be added to all data received from millions of other smart thermometers, in real time, for applications and programs based on tools for deep analysis of big data to be indexed and analyzed , And present the general indicators of these millions of people, from the perspective of epidemiology, and then make instantaneous assessments about developments in the state of health, epidemics, and future directions.

Based on this real-time information, health care officials and planners develop plans to mobilize and mobilize health resources, in a manner that is appropriate to the actual situation of the epidemic on the ground, be it moment to moment, or at the level of the following days, weeks, and months.

Smart scales for two million people

The founder and CEO of Kinsa, Andes Singh, said that his company currently has smart thermometers with more than two million users, in more than a million American families, each recording 150 readings per day, explaining that these scales cost between $ 40 to the scales Regular, and $ 70 dollars for advanced scales, which are placed behind the ear, and measure temperatures and other indicators, as well as providing the user with opportunities to add any of the other symptoms he is experiencing.

Singh added that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have for decades monitored diseases, such as influenza, relying on data collected from patient visits to health care departments, who then diagnose and report these diagnoses to the Centers for Disease Control, and this method takes a long time that may extend for weeks Or months, while the Kinsa system makes it happen in real time, thus identifying the epidemic hotspots in real time, which achieves early detection, preparation and early confrontation, which achieves greater effectiveness in reducing the spread of diseases.