American scientists from the University of Maryland School of Public Health have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to predict outbreaks of diarrheal diseases due to climate change. The study was published in the scientific journal Environmental Research Letters (ERL).
The expert team used data on temperature, precipitation, historical disease rates and climatic patterns in three countries – Nepal, Taiwan and Vietnam – from 2000 to 2019. This information was used to train a neural network that can predict the spread of infections with an accuracy of several weeks to several months.
According to the authors of the development, the results apply not only to these states, but also to other parts of the world, especially to areas where communities do not have access to clean water and functioning sanitation systems.
Scientists hope their program will create early warning systems for diarrheal disease outbreaks in vulnerable countries.
