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Google's Tool Tracks The Spread Of Flu

kijibe
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Posted November 13, 2008 - By kijibe

Google.org, the company's philanthropic unit has come up with a new Web tool to track a disease at an accelerated scale that it may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu seven to ten days before they are reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Countless number of people entering phrases like "flu symptoms" as a Google search has rendered a new early detection system for "fast-spreading flu outbreaks" called Google Flu Trends.

While the C.D.C. had reported in early February of 2008 that flu cases has increased exponentially in the mid-Atlantic states, Google's search data had already shown the increase in queries two weeks prior to the report being released.

In fairness to the C.D.C., their reports are slower to track because the data that's collected and compiled come from thousands of health care providers, labs and other sources.

The benefits of Google's tool is enormous, as earlier detection mean earlier prevention and control.

Currently, the service covers only the U.S., but Google hopes to apply the technique globally to track influenza and other diseases.

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Tags: Internets Culture
Google's Tool Tracks The Spread Of Flu
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