Systems and methods for contagious illness surveillance and outbreak detection

1 . An illness detection and tracking system, comprising:

a plurality of biometric collection devices, wherein each of the plurality of biometric collection devices are configured to communicate with an associated mobile computing device, and wherein the plurality of biometric collection devices are dispersed amongst a plurality of population nodes;

a computing system comprising at least one memory and at least one processor, wherein the computing system is in networked communication with each of the mobile computing devices, wherein the at least one memory stores instructions which when executed by the at least one processor cause the computing system to:

over a period of time receive user data from each of over five hundred mobile computing devices via network communications, wherein the user data received from each of the over five hundred mobile computing devices comprises a user temperature reading as collected by the associated biometric collection devices;

for each of the plurality of population nodes, based on the user data received over the period of time from the mobile computing devices associated with the respective population node, determine a rate of change of fever-induced illness based on the user data received from the mobile computing devices associated with the respective population node;

generate an illness signal for at least one of the plurality of population nodes based on the determined rate of change of fever-induced illness for at least one of the plurality of population nodes; and

provide the generated illness signal for the at least one of the plurality of population nodes to a third-party recipient.

2 . The illness detection and tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the generated illness signal is a real-time illness signal.

3 . The illness detection and tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing system to:

generate a first illness signal for a first population node of the plurality of population nodes; and

generate a second illness signal for a second population node of the plurality of population nodes.

4 . The illness detection and tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing system to determine an effective reproduction rate (Rt) for each the plurality of population nodes.

5 . The illness detection and tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing system to receive data sets from one or more third parties via network communications.

6 . The illness detection and tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of biometric collection devices are any one of a pulse oximeter, a heart rate monitor, a wearable fitness tracker, a temperature sensing probe, and a wearable device.

7 . The illness detection and tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the mobile computing devices are any one of a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and a desktop computer.

8 . The illness detection and tracking system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of population nodes is a geographic region, and wherein the mobile computing devices associated with the geographic region are physically located within the geographic region.

9 . The illness detection and tracking system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of population nodes is a geographic region and the geographic region is a state, and wherein the mobile computing devices associated with the geographic region are physically located within the state.

10 . The illness detection and tracking system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the plurality of population nodes is any one of a school, a school system, or an institution of higher learning.

11 . The illness detection and tracking system of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing system to:

compare the determined rate of change of fever-induced illness for each of the plurality of population nodes to a threshold rate of change; and

when the determined rate of change of fever-induced illness exceeds the threshold rate of change, generate an outbreak signal for the associated population node.

12 . A computing system comprising at least one memory and at least one processor, wherein the computing system is in networked communication with each of a plurality of mobile computing devices, wherein the at least one memory stores instructions which when executed by the at least one processor cause the computing system to:

over a period of time receive user data from each of over five hundred mobile computing devices via network communications, wherein the user data received from each of the over five hundred mobile computing devices comprises a user temperature reading as collected by a biometric collection device associated with the respective mobile computing device;

for each of a plurality of population nodes, based on the user data received over the period of time from the mobile computing devices associated with the respective population node, determine a rate of change of fever-induced illness based on the user data received from the mobile computing devices associated with the respective population node;

generate an illness signal for at least one of the plurality of population nodes based on the determined rate of change of fever-induced illness for each of the population nodes; and

provide the generated illness signal for the at least one of the plurality of population nodes to a third-party recipient.

13 . The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the generated illness signal is a real-time illness signal.

14 . The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing system to determine an effective reproduction rate (Rt) for each the plurality of population nodes.

15 . The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the biometric collection devices are any one of a pulse oximeter, a heart rate monitor, a wearable fitness tracker, a temperature sensing probe, and a wearable device.

16 . The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of mobile computing devices are any one of a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and a desktop computer.

17 . The computing system of claim 12 , wherein one or more of the plurality of population nodes is a geographic region, and wherein the mobile computing devices associated with the geographic region are physically located within the geographic region.

18 . The computing system of claim 12 , wherein one or more of the plurality of population nodes is any one of a school, a school system, or an institution of higher learning.

19 . The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing system to:

compare the determined rate of change of fever-induced illness for each of the population nodes to a threshold rate of change; and

when the determined rate of change of fever-induced illness exceeds the threshold rate of change, generate an outbreak signal for the associated population node.

20 . An illness detection and tracking method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing system, a threshold biometric rate of change for a population node;

receiving, by the computing system, user data collected from over five hundred biometric collection devices, wherein the user data received from each of the over five hundred biometric collection devices comprises a biometric reading for a user as collected by the one or more biometric collection devices;

storing the user data collected from the over five hundred biometric collection devices in a data store, wherein the user of each biometric collection device is a member of the population node;

based on the user data in the data store, determining, by the computing system, a biometric rate of change for the population node;

comparing, by the computing system, the determined biometric rate of change for the population node to the threshold rate of change for the population node;

when the determined real-time biometric rate of change exceeds the threshold rate of change for the population node, generating, by the computing system, an illness signal for the population node; and

providing, by the computing system, the illness signal to a third-party application via network communications through an application programming interface.