Bits 'n Bytes Chris Timberlake scours the Internet for what's happening on the World Wide Web.
Tracking the flu September 23, 2009 | 02:35 PM It's becoming easier to track the flu by way of the Internet. Just call it "infodemiology."
Google offers a trending site at www.google.org/flutrends. The site is designed to pick up advance clues by tracking and analyzing Internet searches for flu information. The kinds of questions that are researched as well as the number of times they are asked can provide an early warning sign of trouble. During the 2007-08 flu season, Google's system detected flu rates one to two weeks ahead of official reports.
Another impressive site is www.healthmap.org/en. It's a self-described "Global Disease Alert Map," which features a Google Map filled with electronic pushpins representing data points of current disease outbreaks.
An initial glance at the home page presents an intimidating cluster of pushpins, but zoom-in and you'll find the incidents much more widespread.
The nearest link to Harrison County is dated Sept. 5 and refers to a case of H1N1 confirmed at Slate Run Elementary School in New Albany.
If you want to narrow your search to H1N1 only, you can do so, or you can expand the search to include the regular flu, Avian influenza, E. coli and rabies, among others.
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