BOULDER, Colo., May 2 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers have created an interactive map with Google Earth technology to track the worldwide spread of avian flu.
The team of researchers from the University of Colorado-Boulder and Ohio State University say their "supermap" should help researchers and policy makers better understand the virus and anticipate further outbreaks.
The team projects genetic and geographic information onto an interactive globe using Google Earth technology, allowing users to fly virtually around the planet and analyze movements and changes in the genomes, or genetic blueprints, of known avian flu sub-strains that have been sequenced since the virus was first detected in Guangdong, China, in 1996.
"This is a completely new method of integrating and sharing knowledge about disease spread, giving people a quick and easy way to make sense of the changes," said University of Colorado graduate student Andrew Hill, a study co-author.
A paper outlining the research appears in the April issue of the journal Systematic Biology.
