Google Flu Trends
by Lalith Polepeddi on November 16, 2008
Google has done it again.
Earlier this week, Google launched a project called Google Flu Trends (http://www.google.org/flutrends/). It estimates flu activity in the US based on Google search queries.
Currently, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimate flu activity based on how many sick patients enter a doctor's office. The problem with this approach is that by the time people start going to their doctors, the flu can already be widespread in a population.
Google has come up with a cool way around this problem, called Google Flu Trends. During flu season, people usually search online to determine whether the symptoms they have might be that of the flu. Google found that certain search queries are popular during flu season and, therefore, are a good marker of flu activity. In fact, their studies have shown that aggregated search queries can accurately estimate flu activity up to two weeks ahead of the traditional CDC system. Google Flu Trends could allow doctors and the CDC to crackdown on the flu quickly before it becomes widespread instead of having to play catchup when it is already widespread.
This is a great example of how technology can be used as a powerful tool in health. It is inspiring that a simple thing such as a search query can be used to potentially preempt flu outbreaks.
Check out how Google Flu Trends works at http://www.google.org/about/flutrends/how.html
-Lalith
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