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Evaluation

Insecticide Resistance Surveillance

Applied Research

What is Microsoft Premonition?

Microsoft Premonition is a system that aims to detect potential pathogens before they cause widespread outbreaks. The Microsoft Premonition technology stack consists of robotic platforms for monitoring and intelligently sampling disease carriers – such as mosquitoes. The data collected from these technologically advanced traps will help us instantly monitor the mosquito populations and environmental conditions in Harris County, as well as aid us in collecting environmental samples for known and novel biological threats. The complete technology stack is designed to monitor and analyze mosquito populations to provide situational awareness and predictive analytics of mosquito-borne diseases to direct targeted control efforts.

One Common Goal

With Microsoft Premonition’s global sensor network and the speed in which we can obtain mosquito samples, HCPH and Microsoft hope to dramatically enhance our knowledge of insects, microbes, and viruses to help identify disease threats before they emerge.

Harris County Public Health (HCPH) will be a key partner to Microsoft Premonition as Microsoft continues to expand and refine these technologies. As the result of five years of advanced R&D, this announcement marks an important step towards new approaches to pandemic preparedness.

When will the initiative begin in Harris County?

We expect to have 100 traps delivered to Harris County beginning in 2021. Early focus will be on enhanced protection against mosquito-borne diseases through remote sensing and the suppression of disease vectors driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

How is the data analyzed?

Premonition’s robotic smart traps will provide real-time data about mosquito populations to HCPH. Cloud-based analytics will combine these data streams along with other environment data – like weather conditions – to provide us with continually updating maps about mosquito densities. Premonition’s analytics will also allow us to predict where mosquito populations are likely to be, so we can take targeted interventions ahead of time. Premonition’s “metagenomic” analyses will also allow us to computationally scan environmental samples for known and novel threats – giving us new tools to help detect emerging environmental pathogens, such as Zika, much earlier.

How invasive is this process to Harris County?

Not at all! The mosquito traps will be spread to various parts of Harris County and placed in areas with higher than normal mosquito activity. They do not make any noise, can be easily moved, and provide no harm to the environment.

Where can I find additional information?

For more information, please contact Mosquito Vector Control. More details about this project can also be found at microsoft.com/premonition.

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