Google on Tuesday announced a new Maps feature to help make it easier to determine the availability of flu vaccine.
According to the company, users can now visit Google's new flu shot Google Maps page to find out if there is any vaccine available in their area. It partnered with "the U.S. Department for Health and Human Services, their Flu.gov collaborators, and the American Lung Association on the flu shot finder," the company wrote in a blog post.
On the flu shot page, users can input their Zip code or town and find all the vaccine available in their area. The tool will also be made available on the U.S. government's flu page, as well as the American Lung Association's site.
Find flu shots with the help of Google Maps.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)As useful as it might sound, Google was quick to point out in the blog post that so far, the company has yet to receive information on flu shots from many locations. It should also be noted that depending on where the user searches, he or she might find several clinics that are out of flu shots. Google said that although some of the service might not feature actionable content now, it felt the time was right to "help disseminate information about locations where vaccines are available, and also to make more vaccine providers aware of the project so that they can contribute."
Google is currently working with the Centers for Disease Control, state and local health agencies, and other organization to add more vaccination locations to its maps. So far, it has received "data for locations of flu vaccine directly from 20 states and counting." To expand its coverage, Google is also working with chain pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS to add more vaccination-availability information for all 50 states.
For now, you can try out Google's flu shot page to see if there is any seasonal flu or swine flu vaccine available in your area. Expect the page to feature much more content going forward.
H1N1 influenza, better known as the swine flu, is guaranteed to make an impact across the U.S. and the rest of the world in the coming months. But knowing what to expect, and how to determine if H1N1 is impacting where you live, should be the first step in your evaluation of the swine flu.
And that's where this roundup comes in. Listed below, you will find several resources that will help you not only track the swine flu, but probably help you learn a little something about it as well.
Find out about that swine flu
Centers for Disease Control -- The Centers for Disease Control has some of the best information on the swine flu of any site in this roundup. Everything from its causes to its symptoms are available.
Information on the swine flu from the CDC is the best I've seen on the Web. The site offers basic information for those who want an overview. It quickly digs deep into treating family members afflicted with swine flu, why a vaccination might be useful, who the flu is most likely to affect, and more. It also produces videos and podcasts. Overall, I liked the CDC's presentation on the swine flu. It's extremely informative.
The Centers for Disease Control is a great resource.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)FluTracker -- Rhiza Lab's FluTracker app is one of the best ways to track the swine flu on the Web.
When you get to the site, you'll see several colored circles around a map of the world. The color of each circle denotes the severity of the outbreak in a given location. Inside those circles are numbers, giving you a tally of confirmed outbreaks in a particular country. Perhaps most importantly, the site allows you to zoom in to see how many outbreaks have affected your area. You can even see how many deaths have occurred. If you're looking for in-depth but easily understandable tracking of the swine flu, FluTracker is your best bet.
FluTracker tells you where the swine flu is.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)
The H1N1 Influenza, better known as the swine flu, is a real concern for just about everyone this year, making keeping up to date on the latest news paramount.
But considering we're all so busy, remembering to visit government Web sites can be difficult. Installing some basic apps onto your iPhone isn't. Check out some of these apps that will keep you abreast of all the latest news about the swine flu.
Swine Flu apps
CDC News Reader If you want the latest and most up-to-date information on the swine flu, CDC News Reader is probably a good place to start.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides all the latest information available on the swine flu. And since it also provides information on other outbreaks the organization is tracking, you're likely to find some of the best health data of any app in this roundup. For 99 cents, it might be worth it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is your primary source.
(Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)H1N1 Cases by State If you want daily updates on how the swine flu is spreading, H1N1 Cases by State will fill you in.
H1N1 Cases by State automatically downloads daily all the new instances of swine flu in each state in the U.S. When you click on a new outbreak, you'll be brought to a page detailing it. You can also see how many deaths have occurred because of the outbreak. For 99 cents, it's not a bad app to have with you when you need some updates.
H1N1 Cases by State will help you determine where the outbreaks are.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)Correction at 4:13 p.m. PDT Thursday: Roni Zeiger's last name was misspelled in an earlier version of this post.
Google is attempting to find out how much of a role Internet searches play in the self-diagnosis process.
The company plans later Wednesday to start rolling out a subtle question at the bottom of pages with search results for a few common ailments, such as "Did you search because you or someone you know may have an ear infection?" That question will only appear for a very small number of users who search for terms such as "ear infection," but it will help Google start to understand how many people are searching on such terms looking for treatment remedies or options as opposed to doing research, said Dr. Roni Zeiger, a product manager for Google Health.
Understanding how many people are searching on Google for help diagnosing their health could improve future search results, the company thinks.
(Credit: Google)In a way, this is an extension of the work Google has done tracking the flu with Google Flu Trends. The company noticed that search activity related to the flu tends to rise about two weeks before a similar rise is reported to the Centers for Disease Control by doctors, but years of data on flu patterns validates those trends, Zeiger said. Similar data does not exist for more common health issues.
Google is not exactly sure what it wants to do with that data, or how much useful data will be produced by the experiment. Ultimately, however, everything at Google goes back into the search process, so it's possible that the data could be used to offer searchers more options, such as "Did you mean to search for treatment options for X?" at the top of the search page.
This is a temporary project: Google plans to gather data for several weeks, starting Wednesday afternoon.
Updated at 11:30 p.m. PDT: This blog misreported the percentage of swine flu interest on Facebook member pages in the states of Texas and Mississippi. The correct percentages are 0.82 percent and 0.29 percent, respectively.
There have been a lot of resources that have surfaced to help track the newly spreading swine flu. On Monday, we covered some of these online resources to help you stay on top of it. Tuesday night, Facebook released some interesting data on the conversations taking place around the swine flu outbreak. The company has posted a photo album on Facebook's official fan page, containing images that detail the growth of the discussion as well as the geographical distribution of people talking about swine flu.
As this image shows us, there is a wide range in the percentage of people talking about swine flu in wall posts from state to state. Texas has 0.82 percent of its Facebook users mentioning swine flu, while Mississippi only has 0.29 percent. Hotbeds for the outbreak, such as California, Texas, and New York obviously show the greatest concentration of users discussing swine flu. The numbers in Canada are significantly lower than those in the U.S., obviously showing that the Canucks aren't getting as concerned yet.
All of this data was generated using Facebook's Lexicon service, which tracks how frequently certain terms are mentioned in wall posts. The Facebook data definitely gives us a better understanding of who is talking about the outbreak and can help us to visualize the spread of information on the subject.
The role that social media has played in the spread of information throughout the swine flu outbreak has been significant. Some would argue that social media has helped to fuel the fire, along with the constant coverage on the news. For better or for worse, social media is likely to be one of the primary mediums through which information spreads in a crisis moving forward.
Just in case you're not getting enough up-to-the-minute news about swine flu, you can log in to Twitter to get updates from the government's Centers for Disease Control.
The CDC is using Twitter to spread the word on how not to spread or get swine flu. The CDC has several Twitter accounts including @CDCemergency, which is posting new recommendations, bulletins on confirmed cases, and information on antiviral drugs and other ways to deal with or prevent the disease.
The Associated Press reports that there have been more than 1,600 reported cases and the number of suspected deaths has reached 149 in Mexico. At 1 p.m. Eastern Monday, the CDC reported 40 confirmed cases in the United States: California (7), Kansas (2), New York City (28), Ohio (1), and Texas (2). One person has been hospitalized, but there have been no deaths.
Another Twitter account, @CDC-eHealth, is updated less often but has some good advice including this link to a CDC site where you can send family and friends a "handwashing eCard."
You can also search Twitter for "swine flu" where you'll find a lot of tweets, but use caution before taking advice from sources that you have no particular reason to trust.
And there is indeed plenty of discussion about the disease. Nielsen Online released data that shows that the volume of conversations about swine flu "have already exceeded nearly 10 to 1 those surrounding the salmonella and peanut butter scares from earlier this winter."
Of course all general news organizations have information including our own CBSNews.com which has an excellent and relatively reassuring video from "CBS Evening News" M.D. Dr. John LaPook. (CNET News is published by CBS Interactive, a unit of CBS.)
WebMD.com has a swine flu FAQ and as Don Reisinger pointed out in a Webware post about online resources for tracking swine flu, Google has a map that tracks locations of cases around the world.
From my own experience, using the Web to get health information can be quite useful but it can also lead to unnecessary panic. It's a great way to get general information, prevention tips, and information on how to handle a known condition, but be cautious when using it to try to diagnose yourself. When you do online research about symptoms, you are likely to find a wide variation of causes from the benign to deadly. Yes, a cough can be a symptom of lung cancer, but it can also be from a common cold. If I do suspect something is wrong, I usually go to a doctor, not a URL. If you do go online for health information be sure it's a reputable site like WebMD, one of the state or federal government sites (including healthfinder.gov), or a site run by a respected health care provider.
Updated to include link to number of cases and links to Nielsen Online data.
The spread of a new swine flu is quickly becoming a worldwide concern. The Web, of course, is an ideal resource for learning more about it, but there is plenty of misinformation as well. Here are the sites we recommend turning to.
Research sites
The CDC has all the best information.
(Credit: Screenshot by Don Reisinger/CNET)The Centers for Disease Control : The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is the best swine flu resource on the Web. You can learn about the outbreak of the flu and find key facts that help you understand it. There's a video podcast by a physician, giving you in-depth information about the flu's signs and symptoms, how it's transmitted, and steps you can take to protect yourself. This should be your first stop.
Flu Wiki : The Flu Wiki from Wikia helps you learn about influenza. From its symptoms to its varied strains, the site provides a wealth of knowledge on just about any flu topic. It also has a swine flu wiki page that, while helpful, could be more in-depth. But since the swine flu is somewhat similar to other influenza strains, the Flu Wiki will still come in handy.
Google Maps swine flu outbreak map: The swine flu outbreak map helps you find every known instance of the swine flu around the world. The map also provides information on the current state of the ill person. It will be continuously updated, so you can track it each day. But like following minute-by-minute stock market fluctuations, we don't recommend dwelling on this site.
... Read moreTwitter has been great for tracking things like earthquakes, forest fires, and other natural disasters, but what about human health? SickCity, a new Twitter mashup is doing just that, by tracking people's tweets about being sick, having sore throats, and other physical maladies (like zombification). The tool lets you track these occurrences both by city and each specific ailment. And the stats go back to the last 31 days, which can show you if a certain type of sickness is trending.
Google rolled out something similar for flu trends back in November of last year, however that's based on people's searches on Google.com along with historic data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. SickCity, on the other hand, has more up to date information, albeit from a smaller portion of users, and the added benefit of letting you drill down to a city level (something Google doesn't do). In the future, I'd love to see the tool integrate both sets of this data: that of Twitter users, and the results from Google. This could make things really interesting.
Coming soon as an additional source of data for SickCity will be status updates from Facebook, which should make good use of that new "What's on your mind?" box. If "braaaaains!" starts showing up, SickCity may be the first place to give you warning of the zombie apocalypse.
SickCity shows you the latest Twitter messages about certain colds and other ailments down to a city level.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Google on Tuesday unveiled a new site to track the progress of the common cold.
Using the same keyword tracking technology found on Google Trends, it keeps an eye on people searching for queries involving the word "flu" and tracks them both by date and location.
What makes the technology so fascinating is that its data set goes back to 2003, and has been cross-referenced with the last several years of survey data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Google says that because its own system is based on a constant flow of searches as opposed to surveying techniques it's able to provide results one to two weeks faster than the CDC.
The same trending technique could be used in tandem with other organizations to track contagious viruses or threats besides the common cold, including AIDS, bird flu, and Africanized honey bees.
One limitation of the current system is that it does not track worldwide flu traffic. There is, however, quite a bit to discover from data from years prior--especially when you get several years that stack up on top of each other with similar rises and falls during certain parts of the year. According to Google's chart, we're about three weeks from hitting the heavy season, which goes until early January.
Google Flu Trends tracks flu activity across the United States.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
Avain flu on Google Earth
(Credit: Ohio State University)Biomedical researchers wanted to get a good look at the avian flu virus. And they did not turn to a super microscope. They used Google Earth instead. With Keyhole Markup Language on Google Earth scientists were able to trace the course of the disease over the past decade.
The Google Earth project animates the spread of avian flu virus. In addition the data contains information on all known strains of the evolving flu virus plus all its host organisms. So far avian flu has not proven highly contagious among humans with fewer than 300 known cases worldwide. However, medical research is watching the virus's spread and evolution.
To check out the virus virtually, you need Google Earth downloaded. Then copy this link into your browser.
