Microsoft deploys new methods of detecting Zika virus

New methods of quelling the Zika virus are
in the offing.
This time, Microsoft is deploying a new
prototype mosquito to detect emerging
infectious diseases.
The project is part of Microsoft Premonition
research program which is being carried out
in Houston.
The trap is designed to collect only the
specific type of mosquito a researcher
wants to analyze and the company hopes it
will help in the tracking of the mosquito-
borne Zika virus.
The current Zika outbreak was first detected
last year in Brazil and has been linked to
more than 1,400 cases of microcephaly.
It has since spread to at least 39 countries
and territories in the Americas and is
expected to arrive in the continental United
States in the coming weeks as the weather
warms.
Microsoft researcher Ethan Jackson, who
heads up the project, said his team treats
the mosquito as a means to collect blood
from animals and humans.
This allows scientists to analyze the blood
for new or resurgent pathogens, whether or
not they are spread by mosquitoes.
Microsoft says the traps use new advances
in a branch of artificial intelligence called
machine learning to differentiate between
the mosquitoes researchers want to trap and
other bugs they are not interested in.
The trap also collects information on what
time the mosquito was trapped and what
the weather conditions were like at the time.
The information can be analyzed and used
to track where the mosquitoes can be found
that pose the greatest health risk, allowing
authorities to target their eradication efforts
in specific areas.

Project Premonition is a multi-year Microsoft
project that aims to detect infectious
disease outbreaks before they become
widespread, allowing major health disasters
to be prevented.