CDC using Twitter, Google for swine flu updates and tracking

source: Epharm5

 

Health monitoring agencies are turning to Twitter, Google, and other online sources to help them track swine flu. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is using twitter.com/cdcemergency, an RSS feed, and podcasts to provide updates, reports Healthcare IT News. It's also using Google search queries to pinpoint possible outbreaks, tracking the frequency of search queries and the number of people with symptoms. Google Maps also tracks the flu, says the report. A recent study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal showed that analyzing recent online searches may help scientists predict disease outbreaks (ePharm5, 4/13/09).