Sounds ridiculous right? Well, in preparation for flu season Google has teamed up with the US government's Center for Disease Control and Preventions. Here's how it works: Google has invented a way to monitor flu outbreak's by tracking users' illness related searches. What is the benefit to this new system? It is much faster than traditional flu surveillance programs and also provides maps and graphs that show the intensity of flu outbreaks in the United States. Google believes there is a correlation between how many people google flu symptoms and the amount of people that are actually sick. Google hopes to give people advance warning of flu outbreaks and help America stay healthy.
I found this to be very interesting, but one has to question the accuracy of this survey. Could someone just be interested in the flu symptoms, while not actually having any of them? The answer is yes, so it may cause the intensity of the flu to be inflated. Despite this flaw it still could be very helpful if you are curious to know the amount of people that have the flu in a certain state. Also, it is easier to update than traditional flu surveys, which could offset its inaccuracy in the searches. Google also provides a flu shot locator, making it easier to find a convenient location to get vaccinated. I believe that this is an interesting and helpful resource in flu trends (in case you are wondering Illinois flu activity is low).
2 comments:
I think this is a good example of how technology has helped our society. Google has been able to help research not only for essays and history projects, but diseases and people's chances of getting them. However, it is not to say that google should be replaced with a doctor, that's rediculous and unefficient. But for a quick look to see if you have a higher possibility of getting the flu, google is a great tool.
I think that this topic is really interesting, and shows how are society is progressing to prevent certain things. This method of getting flu information can be incredibly helpful to be aware of when the flu is going around in your area. This is a great example of how technology has helped communities rather than harm.
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