Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, 700 13 Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
Malar J. 2010 Aug 10;9:230. doi: 10.1186/1475-2875-9-230.
Ontologies are rapidly becoming a necessity for the design of efficient information technology tools, especially databases, because they permit the organization of stored data using logical rules and defined terms that are understood by both humans and machines. This has as consequence both an enhanced usage and interoperability of databases and related resources. It is hoped that IDOMAL, the ontology of malaria will prove a valuable instrument when implemented in both malaria research and control measures.
The OBOEdit2 software was used for the construction of the ontology. IDOMAL is based on the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) and follows the rules set by the OBO Foundry consortium.
The first version of the malaria ontology covers both clinical and epidemiological aspects of the disease, as well as disease and vector biology. IDOMAL is meant to later become the nucleation site for a much larger ontology of vector borne diseases, which will itself be an extension of a large ontology of infectious diseases (IDO). The latter is currently being developed in the frame of a large international collaborative effort.
IDOMAL, already freely available in its first version, will form part of a suite of ontologies that will be used to drive IT tools and databases specifically constructed to help control malaria and, later, other vector-borne diseases. This suite already consists of the ontology described here as well as the one on insecticide resistance that has been available for some time. Additional components are being developed and introduced into IDOMAL.
本体论正在迅速成为设计高效信息技术工具（特别是数据库）的必要条件，因为它们允许使用逻辑规则和定义的术语来组织存储的数据，这些规则和术语既被人类也被机器理解。这不仅提高了数据库和相关资源的使用效率和互操作性。希望疟疾本体论（IDOMAL）在疟疾研究和控制措施中实施时，将成为一种有价值的工具。
使用 OBOEdit2 软件构建本体论。IDOMAL 基于基本形式本体论（BFO），并遵循 OBO 基金会联盟制定的规则。
疟疾本体论的第一个版本涵盖了疾病的临床和流行病学方面，以及疾病和媒介生物学。IDOMAL 旨在成为更大的媒介传播疾病本体论的核心，后者本身将是传染病大本体论（IDO）的扩展。后者目前正在一个大型国际合作框架内开发。
IDOMAL 的第一个版本已经免费提供，将成为一套本体论的一部分，这些本体论将用于驱动专门构建的 IT 工具和数据库，以帮助控制疟疾，以及后来的其他媒介传播疾病。这个套件已经包括了这里描述的本体论以及一段时间以来可用的杀虫剂抗性本体论。正在开发和引入其他组件到 IDOMAL 中。
