Researchers show phone calls can forecast dengue fever outbreaks

A team of scientists has developed a system that can forecast the outbreak of dengue fever by simply analyzing the calling behavior of citizens to a public-health hotline. This telephone-based disease surveillance system can forecast two to three weeks ahead of time, and with intra-city granularity, the outbreak of dengue fever, a mosquito-borne virus that infects up to 400,000 people each year.