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Google Maps, Disease Risk, and Migration

Posted by timothy on from the paywalls-are-a-disease dept.

First time accepted submitter ecorona writes "This Google Maps mashup was published in Science (paywall warning) this week. It shows genetic risk for multiple diseases distributed across the globe. It's easy to follow the migration path and see which diseases increase/decrease in risk along human migration paths. Click on the populations to see the relative risk of the selected disease for each population. You can pick your a disease and see which populations are more susceptible. The article is behind a paywall, but the website is free to use." On a similar note, an anonymous reader points out a British research project that "used Twitter to track and map flu-like illnesses across the U.K. to determine if epidemics were emerging. The research culminated into an online visual tool, the Flu Detector, that maps tweeted flu rates in several regions across the U.K."

9 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. Google's flu trends by aa_trna_syn · · Score: 2

    Google also has a flu trends mapping: http://www.google.org/flutrends/us/

  2. Re:America Fuck Yeah! by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

    As best I was able to tell, the chart was looking at specifically genetic(SNPs), rather than lifestyle, risk factors across various historical migration paths.

    If they are looking at genetic risk factors, rather than lifestyle risks or overall incidence, it seems more plausible that higher risks would show up in odd places: genetic risks only get selected against in environments where they cause problems. If alcohol or cheap calories aren't available, the genes impose no penalty and spread more readily.

    As for the migration paths, I can only assume that the data for the americas are so sketchy because they have the shortest history of human habitation(not only did the first humans show up there relatively recently, their descendants died off pretty dramatically during the colonial period, leaving much of the present population largely descended from one old world migration path or another)...

  3. Flu Trends on Twitter Not Reliable by mentil · · Score: 2

    Many diseases have flu-like symptoms, and most uneducated people who have any of those diseases would tweet that "they have the flu" without being tested or consulting a doctor, and those false positives would be picked up by the software.

    --
    Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
    1. Re:Flu Trends on Twitter Not Reliable by stonedcat · · Score: 3, Funny

      If my doctor ever tells me that I have "the flew", I'm getting a new doctor.

      --
      You can't take the sky from me.
  4. Re:Can someone explain this to me? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

    1. You figure out where your forefathers and foremothers come from. 2. you find that place on the mashup. 3. you click on the disease you're most afraid of. 3. you look at the circles that are around the lines that go through that place. If they are red, you should be afraid. If they are yellow or orange, you should be very afraid. If they are dark orange, just off yourself now. Hope this helps

    According to the map, I've been dead six years.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  5. Re:America Fuck Yeah! by DigiShaman · · Score: 3, Informative

    Obesity - Northern South America, but NOT the US?!

    The emphasis of chart is on genetic ancestry and not location. Although the two coincide with each other from a historical perspective, location is meaningless for the USA. For example, most Americans can trace their ancestry to Europe while others South American. Over generations to this day, Americans are to put it bluntly, mutts. Based on that chart, my ancestry is mainly made up of Orcadian followed by North Italian and some Pima. Honestly, I wouldn't know how to calculate my risk if those numbers are based on purity alone. Once you mix the genetics, the results aren't evenly calculable within the ratios.

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  6. Re:America Fuck Yeah! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's not due to lower environmental exposure, its genetic. The gene ALDH2 is responsible for breaking down alcohol in the liver, and for 50% of Asians half the enzymes produced from this gene are ineffective in breaking down the alcohol. On the other hand, this makes them less susceptible to alcoholism, perhaps only due to the fact that they avoid drinking too much because of the effect it has on them.

  7. Re:America Fuck Yeah! by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 2

    No. Founder's effect is a FAR more likely explanation, and is going going to be responsible for most of these variations.

  8. duh by Ofloo · · Score: 2

    This to be expected, .. the higher the live expectancy, the worse the gene pool becomes, .. in 3rd world countries people with bad genes are probably not surviving, .. due to missing medical treatment, .. so countries where live expectancy are higher, people do tend to get kids at an older age, and a lot of people with bad genes survive and are allowed to reproduce, .. I'm not saying there should be bans I'm just suggesting this is obvious, .. and everyone can come to this conclusion. And this got nothing to do with bad habits. like alcohol, smoking, or whatever.