I saw this story last week, and meant to put up a post about it, but alas it was lost in the shuffle. Having sorted through said shuffle this morning, I thought I would go ahead and put up a brief “better late than never” post anyhow.
Google.org has now added the ability to track search patterns on the Flu. This is extremely useful, as in the internet enabled age in which we live, many people who have flu-like symptoms turn to Google to see what is wrong. If an area has a large increase in search for specific search terms that are associated with the flu, Google can assert that there might be an outbreak taking place.
According to the site, this method of tracking flu outbreaks can save weeks in determining that an epidemic is in process. While this can’t eliminate the risk of catching the flu, it can inform citizens and medical professionals to be more cautious and better prepared. Who would have dreamed that search could actually save lives?
We live in amazing times.
