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Google tracks flu through online searches

Quality Improvement Monitor, November 14, 2008

Google has unveiled Google Flu Trends, a new tool that analyzes users’ search data to serve as an early-warning system for flu outbreaks, the New York Times reports.

Tests of the tool by Google.org, the company’s philanthropic division, say the service may be able to detect regional flu outbreaks seven to 10 days before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports them.

Public health officials want to learn more about how Google developed the system to find out if it works properly. A paper on Google Flu Trends will be published in the journal Nature.

Click here to read the Times article.

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