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In Search of Patient Zero: Visual Analytics of Pathogen Transmission Pathways in Hospitals
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics
|December 8, 2020
Summary
This study introduces a visual analytics tool to help infection control experts track hospital pathogen outbreaks. The system significantly reduces analysis time and expands data scope, aiding in identifying outbreak sources and transmission pathways.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare-associated infections
- Infectious disease epidemiology
- Visual analytics
Background:
- Hospital-acquired infections, particularly bacterial and viral outbreaks, lead to high mortality and increased healthcare costs.
- Identifying the source (patient zero) and transmission pathways of outbreaks requires complex analysis of microbiological and patient contact data.
- Current manual analysis methods are time-consuming and limited in scope.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a novel visual analytics approach for analyzing hospital pathogen transmission pathways.
- To support infection control experts in understanding outbreak progression, patient contacts, and timelines.
- To improve the efficiency and scalability of outbreak investigations.
Main Methods:
- Development of a visual analytics system for transmission pathway analysis.
- Application of the system to a real-world Klebsiella pneumoniae outbreak in a German hospital.
- Evaluation of the system's performance and usability with infection control experts.
Main Results:
- The visual analytics system enabled analysis of transmission pathways over longer time intervals (years) and across multiple hospital wards.
- Analysis time for outbreaks was reduced from days to hours.
- Infection control experts reported significant benefits in analyzing outbreaks using the developed system.
Conclusions:
- The novel visual analytics approach effectively supports the analysis of hospital pathogen outbreaks.
- The system enhances the scalability and efficiency of investigations, allowing for broader data analysis.
- Expert feedback confirms the practical utility and benefits of the solution in real-world hospital settings.
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