Steve Stallman recently interviewed Uri Blackman, GIDEON’s CEO, in SCribe magazine, which was mentioned in the Technology Council of Southern California blog. The interview provides some background on the company and the benefit of GIDEON to its users:

What is the main value proposition you offer?
Originally, we focused on compiling the entire world’s data for Infectious Diseases in one easy to use location combined with medical decision support. Now we have taken this to the next level by adding other medical domains on our platform. We help identify the diseases, their global footprints, and provide specific information on treatments. Medical professionals now have one clear source to get the most up to date information, which can change by the minute. This often makes them aware of things they never thought of and helps them make the best decision possible.

In October, 2008 an American tourist in Tanzania acquired trypanosomiasis. At least 40 such cases have been reported since 1970. The following chronology is abstracted from Gideon. Note that the country of disease acquisition was reported in 37 cases - of which Tanzania accounted for 18 and Malawi 11.

Year:
1970 - A case of trypanosomiasis was reported in Switzerland.
1970 - Two American tourists acquired trypanosomiasis while in Kenya and Rwanda.
1975 - A Swedish tourist acquired trypanosomiasis in Gambia.
1977 - A case of trypanosomiasis was reported in Switzerland.
1981 - An American acquired trypanosomiasis in Tanzania.
1990 (publication year) - Two Swiss nationals acquired trypanosomiasis in Rwanda.
1997 - A Brazilian acquired trypanosomiasis in Angola.
1998 - An Australian acquired trypanosomiasis in Tanzania.
2000 - One American and one British national acquired trypanosomiasis in Tanzania.
2001 - Eleven persons acquired trypanosomiasis in Tanzania: three Dutch, two Italians, and one each Swedish, Norwegian, Belgian, South African, American and British.
2001 - A British national acquired trypanosomiasis in Zambia.
2004 - Two British brothers acquired trypanosomiasis in Tanzania.
2004 - Two Italians acquired trypanosomiasis, in Gabon and Central African Republic.
2005 - An American acquired trypanosomiasis in Tanzania.
2005 - Two South Africans acquired trypanosomiasis in Malawi.
2007 - A British national, 5 South Africans, 1 Canadian and two Australians acquired trypanosomiasis in Malawi.

Rates of tick-borne infections in the United States have been increasing dramatically since 2000. See attached graph (Lyme disease displayed as cases/100,000 to allow fit). Although this phenomenon might reflect changes in human population density and artifacts of reporting and diagnosis, I suspect that these data are related to increasing tick and animal reservoir populations.

Update: Also referenced in ProMED

Due to a number of requests, a few updates to the GIDEON code were made to enhance compatibility with the webkit based browsers: Apple Safari and Google Chrome. Essentially this improved marking signs and symptoms in these browsers and enhances the GIDEON experience on the Apple iPhone.

Please let us know how this is working for you.

645,232 cases of filariasis (both forms) were estimated for the Philippines during 1963 to 1996

Wuchereria bancrofti:

Time and Place:
- Bancroftian filariasis is endemic to southern Luzon, Mindanao, Mindoro, Palawan, Samar, Leyte, Sorsogon and Bohol.
- 43 of 63 provinces were endemic n 1960; 45 of 77 provinces as of 1996 4 ; 290 municipalities as of 2001; 351 of 1,566 municipalities as of 2003; 39 of 79 provinces as of 2004.
- Cases have recently been registered in Marinduque.
- Both forms of filariasis (W. bancrofti and B. malayi) coexist in only four provinces: Davao Oriental, Palawan, Eastern and Northern Samar 6 and Surigao del Sur.
- In 1984, 20 million persons were considered at risk for filariasis (both W. bancrofti and B. malayi) in the Philippines; 23.5 million in 2002; 15,034,765 in 2006; 21,882,581 in 2007.
- Only two provinces (Marinduque and Sulu) were considered ‘high prevalence’ areas (>10%) as of 1993.

Disease in the Philippines is nocturnally periodic.

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Recently, a British woman died of leptospirosis acquired from the scratch of a rodent. Few people realize that leptospirosis is not uncommon in the United Kingdom. In fact, 18 fatal cases were reported in England and Wales during 1988 to 2006. In the following graph, I’ve contrasted disease rates for the region with those of the United States.

Update: Also quoted in ProMED

ProMED recently quoted GIDEON in a post about Malaria in India:

According to information available on the Global Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network (GIDEON)

Two-thirds of all cases are reported from Gujarat, Karnatka, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
- Orissa, Assam & Maharashtra account for 80 percent of all _plasmodium falciparum_ malaria.
- Malaria is reported nationwide, including Delhi and Bombay; but not in Hichal Pradesh, Jammu & Sikkim, isolated coastal areas around Western Ghats, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Transmission begins with the onset of the Monsoon seasonb in mid-June.
- _P. vivax_ predominates until August, with _P. falciparum_ infection rising to a peak in September.
- There is no risk for malaria at altitudes above 2000 meters.

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Highest rates of Tick-borne encephalitis in Central Europe are reported in Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Rates in Austria are similar to most other countries in the area. Most cases are encountered in Vienna, Upper and Lower Austria, Burgenland, Styria, Carinthia and northern Salzburg province - with highest rates in Karnten and Steiermark.
- During 2005 to 2006, TBE emerged in the upstream valleys of Inn and Isel, and in Ziller valley and Voralberg (Feldkirch region).
- During the pre-vaccination era, Austria had the highest incidence of TBE in Europe, with up to 700 hospitalized cases annually. TBE accounted for over 50% of all viral meningoencephalitis cases in the eastern and southern regions of the country.
- 139 cases were reported among children in Styria during 1980 to 2003 7 ; 116 during 1981 to 2005
- No fatal cases were reported in 1989; 0 in 1991; 1 in 1992; 2 in 1993
- 66 cases were reported in Tyrol during 2000 to 2006.

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GIDEON was quoted in a recent ProMED post related to a case of unknown hemorrhagic disease in China:

Background information on HGA in China is available on the Global Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network (GIDEON) website.

Seropositive ruminants have been documented in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region area. (see ref 1 below)
- Seropositive rodents have been documented in Jilin Province: Japanese field mouse (_Apodemus peninsulae_), Black-striped field mouse (_A. agrarius_) and Siberian chipmunk (_Tamias sibiricu_). (see
ref 2 below)
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A variety of spotted fever group Rickettsiae are reported in Spain.

The incidence of Mediterranean spotted fever cases has decreased in recent years, from 870 cases in 1989, to 234 in 2003. 77.76% of cases are reported from Andalucia, Castilla La Mancha, Castilla y Leon and Cataluna, with most occurring during July through October. 38 fatal cases were reported during 1980 to 1994.

Seroprevalence surveys:
8% of healthy persons and 26.1% of dogs in Catalonia - highest rates in seimrural areas (1997)
8.7% of persons in southern Spain (2002)
3.4% of persons in southern Spain (Bar29 infection, 2006 publication)
3.7% of persons in Catalonia (Rickettsia slovaka, 2008 publication)
56.4% of dogs in northeastern Spain (2006 publication)
24.6% of dogs in Ourense and Pontevedra (northwestern Spain, 2008 publication)
44% of cats in northeastern Spain (2006 publication)

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In an undiagnosed case of hemorrhagic disease in China, Marjorie Pollack, a ProMED editor, used GIDEON to help figure out the differential diagnosis. From the ProMED note:

Using the database of the Global Infectious Disease and Epidemiology Network (GIDEON ) to see possible etiologies for a hemorrhagic fever syndrome in China, the most likely diagnosis would be Old World hantavirus infection (57 percent probability), followed by _Streptococcus suis_ infection (40 percent), leptospirosis (1.8 percent) and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF — less than one percent probability).

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Recent reports of La Crosse encephalitis in North Carolina remind us that a number of severe arthropod-borne infections continue to appear each year in the United States. For almost four decades, California encephalitis has been the most commonly-reported disease in this group ; however, since 2000, Read the rest of this entry »