A new app developed by University of Zurich (UZH) researchers, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), can aid the early detection of contagious outbreaks, such as gastrointestinal (GI) diseases contracted by people traveling abroad.

GI symptoms contracted during international travel can often be attributed to infection by foodborne or waterborne pathogens.

The Illness Tracking in Travelers (ITIT) app provides a way for travelers to report daily health symptoms through a short questionnaire, the information gathered from which is then linked to location, climate, and air quality data. The research team analyzed data recorded through the app between April 2022 and July 2023, covering 470 trips taken by 609 travelers.

App data showed that people fall ill surprisingly often—on more than one-third of trips—while traveling abroad, with the majority of symptoms recorded being GI issues. GI distress was reported on 19 percent of trips, and most frequently in travelers to Asia, but least frequently in travelers to Africa. Women experienced GI issues more commonly than men, either due to actually being more susceptible or because they were more thorough in recording data through the app.

The researchers are inviting more people to use the app—available in both the App Store and Google Play—as larger datasets would allow the researchers to run automated analysis using artificial intelligence (AI) for early outbreak detection.