Following Swine Flu Online
by Michael Day
Tracking and communications could play a key role in combating a pandemic.
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http://www.technologyreview.com/web/22554/?nlid=1986


Flu flow: HealthMap, created by Google and the CDC, annotates a global map
with news articles, official medical alerts, and other data in real time.
Credit: Google
http://healthmap.org/en


[excerpt]

The World Health Organization (WHO) admitted on Tuesday that it's too late
to contain swine flu, and experts say that it is now vital to track the
spread of the virus in order to mitigate its effects. Vaccines and
antivirals will be crucial to the effort, but tracking and communications
technologies could also play a key role in monitoring the virus,
distributing accurate health information, and quelling outbreaks.

Bloggers and social-networking sites were among the first to follow the
outbreak's rapid spread from its epicenter in Mexico--where swine flu has
been linked to more than 150 deaths--to cities across the United States
and on to Europe, Israel, and New Zealand.

The need for fast information has seen the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) build up a large following on Twitter. Groups ranging
from fellow federal institutions, such as the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health, to local Red Cross divisions, as well as
many regular Twitter users, are employing the service to receive updates.
Some experts, however, warn that Twitter can just as easily spread
misinformation and panic. According to data from the medical tracking site
Nielson, conversations related to swine flu reached 2 percent of all
messages on Twitter over the weekend. By contrast, Google's Flu Trends, a
site that aims to spot flu outbreaks by monitoring search queries related
to flu symptoms and treatment, has shown little increase in activity in
recent days.