GPS- and WiFi-Enabled Asthma Inhaler

Asthma is a common disease that affects about 3,000,000 people worldwide, with 500,000 asthma-related hospital admissions a year in the U.S. Despite this large occurrence, specific triggers of asthma attacks are unclear. This is because many people forget when they have attacks and there is not good enough data on where the attacks occur. Dr. David Van Sickle, CDC epidemiologist, has come up with a solution: the Spiroscout GPS-WiFi inhaler.

How does it work? Whenever the inhaler is used, the location is tracked using GPS and time information is sent via WiFi to a central computer that analyzes the data. This is really helpful on a person to person basis because it allows doctors and patients to better track inhaler usage. On a larger level, the processed information can help show trends in location. Then epidemiologists will be able to discover certain geographical or environmental factors that are triggering attacks.

I do not have asthma but know plenty of people that do. I think combining treatment for such a common disease with today’s GPS and WiFi technology is such a simple but awesome idea. I was wondering how it would be powered, and found another article that said it is battery powered and rechargeable using a wall charger or USB. Speaking of USB, the user can even download info from the device onto their computer. One can also have it send text message reminders!

http://www.economist.com/node/18526861