Ever heard of Lassa fever? Didn't think so. Like Ebola, Lassa fever is another viral, haemorrhagic illness, but unlike Ebola, never quite grabs headlines, despite causing nearly 5,000 deaths each year. 

This week’s podcast  - the second in our series - looks at a range of disease drivers in countries such as Nigeria, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, where Lassa fever and Ebola wreak havoc and kill thousands. While animals may be the original source of such diseases, it is our interaction with them and the environment that triggers outbreaks. 

But what if we had a system that considers real-time data on viruses circulating in animals, ecology and past spill-over incidents, to help prevent the next pandemic? And what if this was based on collaboration across often siloed disciplines, such as ecology, virology, climate change, and data science? 

Well, then, we'd have an award-winning solution!  

In this episode, Professor Kate Jones of UCL, and Professor Jonathan Heeney from the University of Cambridge, talk to James Dray about the Sentinel Forecasting System, the solution that won joint 2nd prize at The Trinity Challenge Awards Ceremony in June 2021.

Keywords: Lassa, Ebola, Disease surveillance, Disease modelling, Disease forecasting, Bayesian models, Genomics, Ecology, Epidemiology, GIS and Geospatial Technology, Software and Mobile Applications, Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning, Big Data, Biotechnology / Bioengineering.

Podden och tillhörande omslagsbild på den här sidan tillhör The Trinity Challenge. Innehållet i podden är skapat av The Trinity Challenge och inte av, eller tillsammans med, Poddtoppen.