Article Excerpt: A new UCLA-led study suggests that real-time social media, such as Twitter could be used to track HIV and drug related behavior to detect potential outbreaks – and ultimately, as a tool for prevention efforts.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Preventive Medicine, suggests it may be possible to predict sexual risk and drug use behaviors by monitoring tweets, mapping where those messages come from and linking them with data on the geographical distribution of HIV cases. The use of various drugs had been associated in previous studies with HIV sexual risk behaviors and transmission of infectious disease.
Full Article: http://tinyurl.com/qgjquat
Article Source: HealthcareITNews