Mapping Swine Flu might sound a bit science-fictional for many of us. I am also convinced that some of us may feel that this is not even a relevant website where a large-scale health issue should be mentioned. In order to clarify a few important details I believe we need to go back in time and perhaps explain the very first relation of any infectious outbreak and GIS.

You might not hear about John Snow yet I can assure you that there was a doctor of some sort who lived in England in 1850ies. He was the first who stopped a cholera outbreak by marking the location of incidents on a street map of London and where the density of the incidents become higher he had a good look-around.

Surprise-surprise, Dr. Snow has found a well in the middle of incident map and in that very minute he got the local authority there and had the handle of the well-pump removed. And suddenly, the outbreak has ended.

So that is the short story, with basic GIS technique Dr. Snow was able to solve the problem with a map and a pencil and without any computing power. I am sure with our improved medicine and computing power we can deal with this flu-outbreak in no time. If you like to see John Snow map you might want to visit http://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/1859map/map1859.html.

Just to let you know that pump or well is still there, so if one day you end up in London you may want to visit the Broadwick street in Soho. As the pump is not operational there is a pub situated nearby named after Dr. Snow, but be careful, do not order water, there are much better and safer beverages on the menu.

Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to read that book, I have been taught Environmental Health plus GIS hence the knowledge of Dr. Snow and the cholera. I'll have a look around on the net a grab a copy as soon as I can though. Thanx Fellof GISer.