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UR Researcher Develops App to Track Ebola

CDC

A researcher at the University of Rochester has developed a smart phone app they believe could help diminish the spread of Ebola and connect patients with necessary health care more quickly.

The app, called "Node", asks people to input their physical symptoms such as fever. If the answers are consistent with Ebola symptoms, they can be connected with health care workers.

The app is the creation of Solomon Abiola, a Uof R research associate. He says the app's ability to track a person's location is crucial in limiting the spread of the disease.

“For example, one of the biggest issues with Ebola is, someone who is sick comes in and you have to ask them 'Where have you been in the last 21 days?'  Well, you don't remember this - even as a health individual here in America - you don't have that information readily available. This application lets you collect that information immediately."

The app, which works on Android phones, will be tested in Lagos, Nigeria this summer. While the Ebola epidemic has been waning, Abiola says the app might be useful in other ways, too, such as tracking the spread of malaria or the flu.

The pilot study will be funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Beth Adams joined WXXI as host of Morning Edition in 2012 after a more than two-decade radio career. She was the longtime host of the WHAM Morning News in Rochester. Her career also took her from radio stations in Elmira, New York, to Miami, Florida.