Rapid Assessment and Characterization of Environmental Risks (RACER)

Researchers have developed a new software tool (RACER) that enables public health officials and others to evaluate the appropriateness and feasibility of conducting health tracking activities or targeted epidemiological investigations of possible health risks from environmental exposures. RACER is designed by researchers in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics that enables public health officials and others to evaluate the appropriateness and feasibility of conducting health tracking activities or targeted epidemiological investigations of possible health risks from environmental exposures. The current version of RACER (version 1.0-beta) has been uploaded to the internet allowing free and convenient access to the program and its capabilities. Version 1.0 beta has been designed to analyze three commonly encountered environmental risk scenarios. In Scenario 1 a source of environmental exposure is identified in a population along with estimates of exposure-level health risks. In Scenario 2 a number of health outcomes have been observed in a population over time in communities near a suspected source of environmental exposure. Scenario 3 addresses situations where a suspected source of environmental exposure exists but the proportion of individuals exposed and the risks due to the exposure are unknown. Applications: 1) Identifies populations at risk and respond to outbreaks clusters and emerging threats 2) Establish the relationship between environmental risks and disease