By Gina Stack
Are you nauseous? Dizzy? Feverish? Google knows.
Google's newest tool, unveiled Tuesday, "Flu Trends" is a public health initiative that gathers information from popular Google search terms and predicts where flu outbreaks may be occurring in the U.S. Whenever a person types in any flu related words into a Google search, the "Flu Trends" tool takes into account what state the search is coming from.
This information is then compiled into a flu trend chart and map of the U.S., which indicates the states that have high levels of flu symptom interest.
The Center for Disease Control collaborated with Google to refine the "Flu Trends" tool. While it acknowledges that it is not a flawless system, the CDC is interested in how this tool may translate to other disease-tracking tools in the future. Jeremy Ginsberg, the lead engineer for the "Flu Trends" website said that research has shown that there is a high correlation between symptom- related web searches and the CDC's data trends for tracking illness outbreaks.
Additionally, in a public statement Google claimed that "Flu Trends" estimated flu outbreak levels one to two weeks sooner than the CDC.
Despite these statistics, "Flu Trends" has some limitations. Elderly people, for example, are not as likely to use the Internet. Also, people who type flu-related symptoms into a Google search might not necessarily have influenza but other viral infections.
Regardless of how accurate "Flu Trends" may be, I find it impressive that large corporations outside the health industry, such as Google, care enough about public well-being and health research to create such innovative tools.
While some may see this tool as intrusive into a person's online activity, it should be noted that with online technology continuing to advance, corporations have an obligation to conduct business in an ethical way.
If "Flu Trends" becomes more accurate, Google will be able to bring the general public, as well as doctors and epidemiologists, current information that could potentially prepare individuals for flu outbreaks in their local region. This ability seems to be a perfect example of how Internet technology, with few disadvantages, can promote the health of citizens throughout the country.
