IBM has provided its technology and expertise to help better monitor spread of the Zika virus disease in South America. The technology firm has partnered with Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), a research institution affiliated with the Brazilian Ministry of Health, which will use IBM’s technology to analyze clues such as mentions on social media and official data about human travel patterns. The researchers will use IBM’s software STEM (Spatiotemporal Epidemiological Modeler), which models and visualizes the spread of infectious diseases. The system can take into account factors such as geography, weather, time, roadways and airports to gain a better understanding of the spread of the disease. The technology was previously used to predict the spread of Ebola, malaria and dengue fever. The project is supported through the IBM Impact Grant and also involves technology analyzing citizen’s concerns from posts and discussions on Twitter. The system monitors in near real-time mentions of Zika incidences, as well as references to the occurrences of the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which spreads the disease. Read more at http://eandt.theiet.org/news/2016/jul/ibm-zika.cfm