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Volume 25, Number 7—July 2019
Online Report

Ethical Considerations for Movement Mapping to Identify Disease Transmission Hotspots

Bouke C. de JongComments to Author , Badou M. Gaye, Jeroen Luyten, Bart van Buitenen, Emmanuel André, Conor J. Meehan, Cian O’Siochain, Kristyna Tomsu, Jérôme Urbain, Koen Peeters Grietens, Maureen Njue, Wim Pinxten, Florian Gehre, Ousman Nyan, Anne Buvé, Anna Roca, Raffaella Ravinetto, and Martin Antonio
Author affiliations: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium (B.C. de Jong, C.J. Meehan, K.P. Grietens, M. Njue, F. Gehre, A. Buvé, R. Ravinetto); Medical Research Council Unit, The Gambia at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Fajara, The Gambia (B.M. Gaye, C. O’Siochain, F. Gehre, A. Roca, M. Antonio); Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium (J. Luyten, E. André); White Wire Data Protection, Kontich, Belgium (B. van Buitenen); Dalberg Data Insights, Brussels, Belgium (K. Tomsu, J. Urbain); School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan, and Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research, Amsterdam, the Netherlands (K.P. Grietens); Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium (W. Pinxten); Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine, Hamburg, Germany (F. Gehre); University of The Gambia, Serrekunda, The Gambia (O. Nyan)

Main Article

Table

Characteristics of different approaches to collecting mobility data for mapping infectious disease outbreaks*

Characteristics Source of mobility data
Dedicated smartphone application GPS tracker Call detail records
Scalability to large populations
 Medium
 Low
 High
Retrospective analysis possible
 Likely, depending on stored location data on phone at time of installation
 No
 Likely, depending on duration of data storage at telecom operators
Spatial resolution
 High, depending on mobile data use and WiFi density
 High
 Variable, depending on cell tower and mast density
Participant control
 Medium
 High
 Low
Third party access to private information
 Possibly
 Unlikely
 Likely
Need for uninfected controls Possibly Unlikely Likely, to avoid identification of health information by telecom operators

*GPS, global positioning system.

Main Article

Page created: June 18, 2019
Page updated: June 18, 2019
Page reviewed: June 18, 2019
The conclusions, findings, and opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors' affiliated institutions. Use of trade names is for identification only and does not imply endorsement by any of the groups named above.
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