Google Flu Tracker

There is a new common symptom of the flu, in addition to the usual aches, coughs, fevers and sore throats. Turns out a lot of ailing Americans enter phrases like "flu symptoms" into Google and other search engines before they call their doctors.

That simple act, multiplied across millions of keyboards in homes around the country, has given rise to a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks, called Google Flu Trends.

Tests of the new Web tool from Google.org, the company's philanthropic unit, suggest that it may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu a week to 10 days before they are reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In early February, for example, the C.D.C. reported that the flu cases had recently spiked in the mid-Atlantic states. But Google says its search data show a spike in queries about flu symptoms two weeks before that report was released. Its new service at google.org/flutrends analyzes those searches as they come in, creating graphs and maps of the country that, ideally, will show where the flu is spreading.

AROUND THE WEB

CDC Flu Activity Tracker

TAMIFLU Tracker

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[lmab]

Why the photo of Oprah?

[Olerist]

Gee guys, lets find a way to scare people and we can sell more toxic laden flu vaccines that don't work very well.

We just got the federal government to recommend them for kids so lets jump on this cash cow,

More fear tactics for profit.

Thanks a lot google!