Mobile Phones Used To Track Diseases

Mobile Phones Used To Track Diseases: Mobile phone technology is being developed to manage the spread of communicable diseases, such as bird flu and HIV, in Rwanda and Indonesia, BBC News reports. The software used in the trials allows field workers to use handsets to send and receive patient and drug data, and information on disease outbreaks. The information can be transmitted through the 'general packet radio service' network, and, if the network is unavailable, data can be sent through an SMS data channel, which typically is used for text messaging. The software, which is programmed with interoperable Java language, allows physicians to send data to central databases and receive alerts, treatment guidelines or lab test results, BBC News reports."