Webware

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

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)

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.

Mississippi doesn't care about the swine flu.

(Credit: Facebook)

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.

Check out the Facebook data here.

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.