New Delhi: In March 2020, after the introduction of SARS CoV-2 in Wuhan, China, World Health Organization (WHO) declares COVID-19 outbreak an epidemic. Since then, millions of deaths have been reported worldwide and increasing cases have been confirmed. Epidemics severely affected lives, tested healthcare systems, slowed the economy, changed the way we worked, and disrupted life.
The various negative effects and uncertainties of the epidemic have prompted leaders, policy makers and scientists to consider ways to prepare for future epidemics and prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Here, technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI) can help.
Diagnosis and monitoring of diseases
AI has the ability to handle large amounts of data to create sensible patterns for human understanding and decision making. It can handle data across multiple domains, which is extremely tedious and time consuming for humans. The ability of AI to assimilate, digest and analyze data is important for predicting future epidemics and disease outbreaks.
For example, in the case of Wuhan, if we had a data collection system that could integrate data such as the movement of people, purchase patterns and consumer preferences, sudden changes in footfall, the types and quantities of animals / meat bought or eaten, we could analyze We are. They are to determine the onset of COVID-19 and to quickly warn the rest of the world about a possible epidemic. These data, now historical, can also be used to determine similar patterns around the world and to predict the early spread of infectious disease.
If we can get information for regional administrations or healthcare organizations and ultimately the worldwide flow, we can predict the onset of diseases. With data on the types of symptoms and their severity, we can also predict the impact of diseases and develop control protocols using AI-led systems.
Similarly, AI systems can help administrations track the affected population and monitor their disease progression to determine recovery time based on age, gender, disease presence or absence, and other factors. Such insights can help in tracing and monitoring the exposure of infected cases to further predict and control the movement of the disease from one population to another.
Early diagnosis using AI
In infectious, rapidly spreading diseases as well as serious illnesses, treatment prognosis predicts how early the diseases will be detected and identified. If we can detect the symptoms as early as possible, it will give the healthcare professionals enough time to treat the patients properly. However, it is humanly impossible to detect or predict the symptoms of an underlying disease before it appears.
In addition, people may not see medical professionals regularly and, for some, may have difficulty seeing someone due to unavailability or access issues. This is where AI can help. AI algorithms can perform first-level screenings to detect subtle details that may indicate problems and send individuals to specialists.
In addition to AI systems to analyze data from medical tests, the potential for transplantable AI systems is high. For example, these systems can be used to monitor even the most frequent fluctuations in blood oxygen or to measure respiratory variations that can be detected early and reported to doctors and patients via smartphones, providing quick medical assistance.
AI in the development of vaccines and drug discovery
In the race to control Covid-19, machine learning (ML) systems and computational analytics have played a key role in the discovery of vaccines. These tools have enabled researchers to study the virus, its composition and its components, which stimulate the immune response which is key in the formulation of vaccines. It can help scientists in selecting vaccine elements and interpreting experimental data. They also help scientists track the genetic mutations of the virus over time, information that is crucial to determining the value of any vaccine.
Similarly, sophisticated AI systems are quick to conduct experiments to identify the effects of various drugs that are important in the search for alternative methods to control symptoms and ultimately diseases. While AI and computational techniques can be optimized Vaccine development And the discovery of medicine cannot change or accelerate the critical aspects that require human intelligence, such as animal and human tests and monitoring their progress.
AI to prevent the spread of misinformation
When it comes to epidemics, opinions and fake information shared on social media and online networks are polarized. AI can go through billions of social media chats, and detect signs of misinformation. For example, we as a country suffered from covid-related misinformation and at that time ‘WhatsApp University’ became big. AI was able to show the authorities the source of the misinformation and how they could bring it down. Along with human consciousness, AI’s ability to gather and discover important information can help prevent misinformation from spreading in communities.
AI alone cannot stop the spread of disease, but it can advise humans to make the right decisions to control the movement of disease and its effect on life. AI can play an important role in supporting and empowering medical practitioners in their day-to-day work. It can offer patients more bandwidth to help care and include spreads and affect faster recovery.
Dr. By Jaideep Jason Raipud, Senior Subject Specialist, Healthcare AI, iMerit
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