Google Battles the Flu

A News & Events entry posted on November 20, 2008

On November 11, Google.org launched Google Flu Trends, a website that provides real-time influenza-like illness estimates based on public search queries on the search engine Google. Google Flu Trends allows researchers, epidemiologists, public health officials, and the general public to learn more about current influenza-like illness activity levels in each state.

Through an initiative called Predict and Prevent, Google.org and CDC’s Influenza Division collaborated in the development of this surveillance system.

Google Flu Trends will display national, regional, and state estimates by date. The data displayed are Google.org model estimates and not state surveillance data. Levels of activity will also be displayed using a color-coded scheme based on an increase in standard deviations above the baseline. Influenza prevention messages, a link to the CDC website, current influenza-related news articles, and an influenza vaccination locator will also be displayed on the website.

Follow this link to explore flu trends across the United States: http://www.google.org/flutrends