The fine folks at Google have developed a tracker that follows flu trend in your state or area.

They analyze the search terms for any given area and they have created an formula that correlates those terms to the probability that the flu has been found in that area.

How does it work?
We’ve discovered that there is a close relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics and how many people actually have flu symptoms. Some search queries tend to be popular exactly when flu season is happening, and are therefore good indicators of flu activity. Our estimates, based on up-to-date aggregated Google search data, may indicate flu activity up to two weeks ahead of traditional flu surveillance systems.

This is a good way to monitor the health status of your area, but as always, if you are capable of receiving one, get a flu shot. It’s the best way to prevent the spread of this illness and protect those around you.

Article Tags: flu | Google | Technology | web trends

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