BlueDot adds flu to its biothreat warning system

BlueDot hit the headlines in the early stages of the pandemic for using its artificial intelligence platform to predict the outbreak and send out an alert before national health agencies. Now, it has extended its platform to monitor other respiratory viruses.

The Canadian start-up has produced AI and natural-language processing (NLP) powered algorithms that aim to provide early warning of influenza-like illness (ILI) outbreaks, which it says can help organisations anticipate the size and severity of seasonal respiratory infections.

Its algorithms sift through reams of information, including international news reports in foreign languages, alerts sent out by health agencies and scientific networks, and even airline ticketing data, so as to help predict the emergence and spread of pathogens.

Backing up the AI are epidemiologists, who check the findings are scientifically sound before sending a report to BlueDot’s customers – be they companies, non-governmental organisations, or government departments.

According to the company, the new ILI platform will provide information for “companies looking to better inform product demand and supply needs, make informed resource allocation decisions, and anticipate future needs.”

BlueDot’s approach combines disease surveillance in near-real-time, regional biothreat analysis, and forecasting that can help organisations protect their ongoing operations against the risk of high-cost disruptions - for example, by communicating risks and scheduling vaccination campaigns.

In the case of pharma and life sciences companies, for instance, it could be used to predict disease outbreaks months in advance, giving them time to develop diagnostics, vaccines, or even therapeutics swiftly to mitigate their impact.

ILIs are highly contagious and can impact as many as one in five of the population during the winter months, according to World Health Organization (WHO) figures cited by BlueDot. The ILI can provide advanced warning of influenza season starts, for example, as well as pinpoint who is most at-risk of disruption, and where.

“It can be challenging to plan for an upcoming ILI season, as they vary significantly due to changes in weather, circulating pathogens, social habits, and the impact that COVID-19 continues to have on populations,” commented Andrea Thomas, director of epidemiology at BlueDot.

“Despite the complexity of these challenges, our intelligence empowers organisations to better anticipate the size and severity of upcoming seasons and provides continuous situational awareness so that they can prepare and respond in a way that reduces the disruption to healthcare, businesses, and society.”