Well I am now back in the USA and back to the grind at L'hospital.
I am turning my attention from low tech medical relief work in Central America to high tech influenza surveillance. In brief, there is a close relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics on the internet and actual flu-like symptoms in the population. Google Flu Trends activity was significantly correlated with emergency department visits as just reported in an article published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Check it out for yourself: Google Flu Trends. Click on the country then the the state, province or region, and, voila, you have a measure of Influenza activity in your area.
For a short yet informative Google Flu Trends video, see below.
What will the Google Boys think of next?
I am turning my attention from low tech medical relief work in Central America to high tech influenza surveillance. In brief, there is a close relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics on the internet and actual flu-like symptoms in the population. Google Flu Trends activity was significantly correlated with emergency department visits as just reported in an article published in Clinical Infectious Diseases.
Check it out for yourself: Google Flu Trends. Click on the country then the the state, province or region, and, voila, you have a measure of Influenza activity in your area.
For a short yet informative Google Flu Trends video, see below.
What will the Google Boys think of next?
