Google is using its intelligence in search data to create a flu tracker. The Google Flu Trends will use aggregated Google search data that will estimate flu activity in your state up to 2 weeks sooner than the traditional flu surveillance systems.
Google says its flu tracker reports will be updated daily instead of the one to two week time lag that traditional flu surveillance systems use.
With from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Google will use the flu tracker to report search queries made about the flu. Google contends that there is a direct relation between the frequency of flu searches and the incidence of the flu.
According to Google, millions of users search for online health information. Pointing to search data that indicate there are more flu related searches done during flu season, the top search engine wants to capitalize on this intelligence by creating an accurate flu tracker based on the reliability of real-world data.
Taking into consideration that everyone that searches for the flu is actually the sick person, however, patterns emerge when many flu-related searches are done from states and different regions in the country. Together these flu related searches create a picture of what types of data users are looking for. The Google Flu Tracker is able to predict potential outbreaks of the flu quicker than health authorities.
The Google Flu Tracker was first shared during the 2007-2008 flu season with the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch of the Influenza Division at CDC. Nine regions across the United States were surveyed, and Google reports they were able to estimate with accuracy flu levels faster than the CDC.
The CDC relies on a network of over 1500 doctors who see 16 million patients a year to track the flu in the United States. These doctors keep track of the percentage of their patients who have flu-like symptoms or illnesses. Then state health departments and the CDC gather the data weekly to give an indication of overall flu activity across the country. The Google flu tracker seems to cut out the bureaucratic middle man by providing instantaneous reliable information.
Epidemiologists are excited about the Google Flu Tracker because it serves as an early warning system of a disease outbreak which could significantly reduce the amount of people affected. If a flu epidemic were to occur, the impact would be minimized with the Google technology.
This isn't Google's first venture into public health. In February, the company began working with the Cleveland Clinic to allow 10,000 patients to store their medical information online.
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