Google Search Tracks Flu Bug

Seattle  – Google Inc. is tracking the flu bug. Google is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to help prevent the flu and monitor where people are becoming ill. The Google Inc.’s tool is a tool that will allow illnesses to be tracked and monitored. This could be very advantageous when it comes to preventing the flu from being spread from person to person causing outbreaks and epidemics.

The tool called “Flu Trends” tracks geographic outbreaks of the flu in time to warn potential victims early enough so that they can see their doctors and get the necessary vaccine to help prevent the flu or illness.
The tool also allows Google to know how many times people use the Google search engine to search for items like thermometer, cough medicine, flu symptoms, cures for colds etc.

Google’s new tool has been quite successful. Last year during a test, it highlighted flu outbreaks two weeks faster than the tracking done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rely on reports from hospitals and state departments to do their tracking. This type of tracking can be time consuming because many people do not go to the doctor unless their illnesses become serious. People will utilize search engines like Google to try and cure their illness at home.

Google’s new tool is pretty reliable and is a great asset for people. It can help prevent illnesses by urging people that might be affected by a flu outbreak to go and get a flu vaccine to help prevent the flu. It is important that people are healthy. If people are not healthy, then they have to call in sick, which costs them money and affects their company because they are not at work doing their jobs. Hopefully, this great tool will help us all stay a little healthier during this year’s cold and flu season.