Disease Mapping and Infection Control System and Method
First Claim
1. A method for disease vector transmission measurement and infection control characterized in that it comprises the steps of:
- (a) utilizing an entity infection tracking system to track the movement, of one or more entities within a geographic area, said entity infection tracking system including a tracking means that utilizes one or more location-aware devices, said tracking means being operable to generate and transfer data pertaining to the one or more entities, as is recognized by the location-aware devices, to the tracking means that is linked to the entity infection tracking system and is operable to generate tracking data by at least one of the following further steps;
(i) utilizing the tracking means to track the one or more entities within a defined area and utilizing the tracking means data to produce or calculate entity tracking data;
(ii) recording locations and movement of the one or more entities within the geographic area;
(iii) recognizing direct contact and indirect contact between the one or more entities and storing this as contact data;
(b) transferring the tracking data to the entity infection tracking system and integrating the tracking data with additional data pertaining to infection or suspicion of infection of at least one of the one or more entities to generate potential infection data;
(c) ascertaining the risk of infection pertaining to one or more of the one or more entities by analyzing the risk of infection of the one or more entities with regards to direct or indirect interaction with the one or more entities that are identified as potentially infected entities to generate infection data;
(d) linking at least the tracking data, the potential infection data and the infection data and utilizing the linked data to analyze the potential spread of infection, and the risk of infection relating to the one or more entities as at least one of the following;
entity infection status;
entity risk of infection;
entity location;
entity direct or indirect contact or interaction with other of the one or more entities; and
(e) generating one or more communications or reports for at least one of the following;
risk of infection;
potential infection spread;
or one or more potential sources of infection.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention is a system and method for disease mapping and infection control. It may collect data from many sources, including through the tracking of Entities and external sources. Such data may be analysed by the system and represented visually. The system further facilitates data modelling. The present invention facilitates calculations of risk and exposure to an infection posed to a person, location or community. The system may be used to test and monitor infection spread and control measures. It can further be configured so as to produce reporting based upon its data to produce information relevant to the creation of infection control policies. The reports may also be utilized to develop standards and measures to improve the operation response to an outbreak of infection within an Institution or a Geographical Area, at the syndromic or pandemic levels.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for disease vector transmission measurement and infection control characterized in that it comprises the steps of:
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(a) utilizing an entity infection tracking system to track the movement, of one or more entities within a geographic area, said entity infection tracking system including a tracking means that utilizes one or more location-aware devices, said tracking means being operable to generate and transfer data pertaining to the one or more entities, as is recognized by the location-aware devices, to the tracking means that is linked to the entity infection tracking system and is operable to generate tracking data by at least one of the following further steps; (i) utilizing the tracking means to track the one or more entities within a defined area and utilizing the tracking means data to produce or calculate entity tracking data; (ii) recording locations and movement of the one or more entities within the geographic area; (iii) recognizing direct contact and indirect contact between the one or more entities and storing this as contact data; (b) transferring the tracking data to the entity infection tracking system and integrating the tracking data with additional data pertaining to infection or suspicion of infection of at least one of the one or more entities to generate potential infection data; (c) ascertaining the risk of infection pertaining to one or more of the one or more entities by analyzing the risk of infection of the one or more entities with regards to direct or indirect interaction with the one or more entities that are identified as potentially infected entities to generate infection data; (d) linking at least the tracking data, the potential infection data and the infection data and utilizing the linked data to analyze the potential spread of infection, and the risk of infection relating to the one or more entities as at least one of the following;
entity infection status;
entity risk of infection;
entity location;
entity direct or indirect contact or interaction with other of the one or more entities; and(e) generating one or more communications or reports for at least one of the following;
risk of infection;
potential infection spread;
or one or more potential sources of infection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for infection control by application of an infection tracking system, characterized in that it comprises the steps of:
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(a) collecting data pertaining to a risk of infection as related to one or more individuals within a geographic area from one or more data sources; (b) linking previously determined data pertaining to a risk of infection transmission as related to one or more assets or equipment the geographic area, as determined by previous studies that determined the likelihood which that equipment or asset type contributed to the disease vector transmission to other entities; (c) determining the risk for the one or more individuals through the evaluation of one or more individual factors; (d) determining the risk for the one or more assets or equipment through evaluation of one or more asset or equipment factors; (e) utilizing the infection tracking system, the includes one or more computer processors operable to access the collected data and to an undertake an analysis of a risk of infection relating to the one or more individuals and the one or more assets and equipment; and (f) generating one or more communications of the analysis of the risk of infection to at least one medical or infection control professional, said one or more communications indicating at least one of the following;
one or more infection hot zone locations;
risk of infection;
potential infection spread;
or one or more potential sources of infection. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A entity infection tracking system for infection control operable to analyze risk of infection within a geographic area, characterized in that it comprises:
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(a) a centralized server including a storage area where data of the infection tracking system is stored; (b) an entity tracking means linked to the centralized server, said entity tracking means being operable to track one or more entities within the geographic area, said tracking means including one or more tags attached to each of the one or more entities that continuously or intermittently transmit a tag location; and
receivers that transmit the location data received from the one or more tags to the centralized server to generate tracking data;(c) one or more access links whereby the centralized server may access one or more remote databases and capture data therefrom as additional data to be utilized by the infection tracking system; (d) a risk analysis application, whereby the tracking data and any additional data is processed to produce a risk of infection analysis pertaining to the one or more entities is generated as risk analysis data; (e) a communication means operable to communicate the risk analysis data to at least one medical professional or infection control professional as at least one of the following;
a representation of the location of one or more infected entities;
a mapping of one or more hot zones of infection within the geographic area;
a mapping of a potential spread of infection calculated based on the risk analysis data. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification