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An Interactive Map of Malarial Areas

Philip S Abrams, PhD (Primary Author)Paul D Cumming, MBA/PhD (Presenting)

Talisman Ltd.Partially Supported by NHLBI Grant HL072635

Abstract A11-020BPresented at

AABB Annual Meetings Anaheim, CASunday 10/21/07 Room 209 A/B

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Malaria Maps

Interactive, graphic “Yellow Book”

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Back Ground

Travel outside the United States and Canada is a consistently large source of donor deferrals and post donation information, especially travel to malarial areas.Presently screeners for US blood centers determine whether travel is to such an area by referring to the CDC Yellow Book, or similar reference.Approach is time-consuming and error-prone because of the manual searching required.

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Background

CDC Yellow Book – definitive sourceHeavyDifficult to useStaticNo aids to recall

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Malaria Maps

Puts Yellow Book content onlineInteractiveGraphicAids recallUpdated as conditions change

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MethodThe system uses interactive mapping capabilities in commercially-available software: Google Maps and Google Earth. We use the malarial risk information contained in the Yellow Book, as updated from time-to-time by CDC, to annotate the maps. Annotation includes full-text of Yellow Book entries for each country, coloring of broad malarial areas and individual annotations for places to indicate risk or safety. We expect to test usability of the interactive map in a blood center and compare results compared with traditional book reference.

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ResultsThe entire contents of the Yellow Book as pertains to malarial risk is embodied in the interactive maps. A user can refer to the map either by entering a search term or by browsing the map. Browsing includes panning and zooming a map to see more or less detail. The map is available to anyone with Internet access anywhere in the world. When the map is updated, the new information is available instantaneously to all users.

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MalariaMaps.com LegendThere is a blue flag for every country. Generally it is near the center of the map window when you search for that country.When you move the mouse over a flag, the malarial risk profile for that country is displayed to the left of the map under the search box. A red marker designates an area that has malarial risk. A green marker designates an area with no malarial risk.

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Availability

malariamaps.comCurrently in betaFree for non-commercial use

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Conclusion

By combining publicly available data about malarial risk from the CDC Yellow Book with available interactive mapping technology, we were able to develop an interactive map for researching malarial risk. This approach can be used equally well for other geographic-based information. As an online system, it is available wherever Internet access exists and can be updated instantaneously.

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Additional Contributors

Vadim PolyakovJessica M Pierre

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More Information

www.talismanlimited.compc@talmed.com