Influenza epidemics occur seasonally but with spatiotemporal variations in peak incidence. Many modeling studies examine transmission dynamics [1], but relatively few have examined spatiotemporal prediction of future outbreaks [2]. Bootsma et al [3] examined past influenza epidemics and found that the timing of public health interventions strongly affected the morbidity and mortality. Being able to predict when and where high influenza incidence levels will occur before they happen would provide additional lead time for public health professionals to plan mitigation strategies. These predictions are especially valuable to them when the positive predictive value is high and subsequently false positives are infrequent.
Objective
Advanced techniques in data mining and integrating evidence from multiple sources are used to predict levels of influenza incidence several weeks in advance and display results on a map in order to help public health professionals prepare mitigation measures.