Detection of Crimean-Congo Fever Using C4.5 Decision Tree

The prevalence of Crimean-Congo fever, a common disease between human and animal, shows an increasing rate by coming summer season. Detection of this disease by the use of necessary tests, lasts at least about one week. There are several data mining and machine learning techniques to create predictive models for identifying at risk people. In this study, C4.5 decision tree method has been used due to its simplicity and efficiency.
In this applied descriptive study, data related to suspected cases of Crimean-Congo fever were used. These data have been collected from health centers of Iran in a four-year period since 2014 and contained 965 records with 29 features. First, by using the quadratic programming feature selection method, the variables which were effective on the model were selected and then, the C4.5 decision tree model was created through using input variables and determining the target variable. Data analysis was performed through Matlab software.
According to the applied model, it was found that fever, bleeding, sudden onset of symptoms, increased liver enzyms, increased total Bilirubin, decreased Hemoglobin, Hematuria, Leukocytosis, Proteinuria and Leukopenia have the greatest impact in the diagnosis of this disease.
According to the obtained results, the sensitivity of the proposed model is 95% and its specificity is 50%. Therefore, this model showed acceptable efficiency in diagnosing this disease in comparison with other studies done in medical data mining field.