This article describes a new way of keeping track of outbreaks of the normal flu and about investigations how to use the tracking for the swine flu as well.
Flu Tracking Links
Search queries indicate flu outbreak
If you catch a cold and it is getting worse, what do you do? Like many others you might look for a recipe to ease your discomfort in the internet, you ask Google or Yahoo about “flu”.
Locate flu outbreaks geographically
Whenever you query a search engine you leave some mini footprint, that is the technical communications address of your internet connection. This technical address is called “IP address” (internet protocol address). It comprises only four numbers, rather than a real address. However, search engines are able to estimate roughly, in which geographical area this address is located.
In other words, when you make a search query, the search engine knows that the computer you are using is somewhere in Iowa.
Count the queries and make a chart
Google came up with the following idea. They know, how many people seek for flu information. They know more or less, where these queries are made. So could this be a measure, where the flu activity is actually just now?
What Google did next was drawing a chart, and comparing the data with the data from the public health administration (Google Flu Trends Explanation).
The charts resulting from the search query analysis and from the CDC data seem to fit surprisingly well. If you want to read more about it, please also check the article in the scientific magazine Nature: Detecting influenza epidemics using search engine query data.
Will Google Flu Trends work for the Swine Flu?
The Google Flu Trends site seems to be no good indication of the swine flu, as of now. The biology professional James M. Wilson asked himself, wether Google’s Flu Trends would be a monitor for the swine flu as well. In his article Google Flu Trends - What Does It Show Now? he comes to the conclusion, that the queries about the normal flu and the sudden interest pig flu would mingle in the search query data. The analysis of the search query data would require the support of professional analysts.
Further Flu Tracking Reads
- Collaborative Google Maps Tracking Of Swine Flu Incidents
- Google Flu Trends
- Alex Chitu reports at the blog Google Operating System about a specific request of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to Google. When Google was inspecting the Mexican queries in detail it occurred, that the flu queries had the unusual context “influenza + phlegm + coughing”. If known before, these severe flu symptoms would have actually been a preindicator of the swine flu.
