GIDEON-Global Infectious Disease Epidemiology Network

GIDEON (Global Infectious Diseases On Line) is a web-based program for decision support and informaticsin the fields of Infectious Diseasesand Geographic Medicine. As of 2005, more than 300 generic infectious diseases occur haphazardly in time and space and are challenged by over 250 drugs and vaccines. 1,500 species of pathogenic bacteria, viruses, parasitesand fungihave been described. Printed media can no longer follow the dynamics of diseases, outbreaks and epidemics in "real time." Although the advent of electronic media has given us unlimited information access, the search for meaningful data is confusing and time-consuming.

Organization

GIDEON consists of four modules. The first generates a Bayesianranked differential diagnosis based on signs, symptoms, laboratory tests, country of origin and incubation period - and can be used for diagnosis support and simulation of all infectious diseases in all countries. Since the program is web-based, this module can also be adapted to disease and bioterrorsurveillance.

The second module follows the epidemiologyof individual diseases, including their global background and status in each of 205 countries and regions. All past and current outbreaks of all diseases, in all countries, are described in detail. The user may also access a list of diseases compatible with any combination of agent, vector, vehicle, reservoir and country (for example, one could list all the mosquito-borne flaviviruses of Brazil which have an avian reservoir). Over 30,000 graphs display all the data, and are updated in "real time." These graphs can be used for preparation of PowerPoint displays, pamphlets, lecture notes, etc. Several thousand high-quality images are also available, including clinical lesions, roentgenograms, photomicrographsand disease life cycles.

The third module is an interactive encyclopedia which incorporates the pharmacology, usage, testing standards and global trade names of all antiinfective drugs and vaccines.

The fourth module is designed to identify or characterize all species of bacteria, mycobacteriaand yeasts. The database includes 50 to 100 taxawhich may not appear in standard texts and laboratory databases for several months.

Additional options allow users to add data (in their own font / language) relevant to their own institution, electronic patient charts, material from the internet, important telephone numbers, drug prices, antimicrobial resistance patterns, etc. This form of custom data is particularly useful when running GIDEON on institutional networks. The data in GIDEON are derived from:

• all peer-reviewed journals in the fields of Infectious Diseases, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Tropical Medicine, Travel Medicine, Antimicrobial Pharmacology and Clinical Microbiology
• a monthly electronic literature search based on all relevant keywords
• all available health ministry reports (both printed and electronic)
• standard texts
• abstracts of major meetings

External links

• Access GIDEON Online

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIDEON-Global+Infectious+Disease+Epidemiology+Network Wikipedia article GIDEON-Global Infectious Disease Epidemiology Network.