Tag: FLU

Despite using real-time search data, Google Flu Trends is less accurate at pinpointing confirmed influenza cases than originally thought. According to The Wall Street Journal, a study (.PDF) done by University of Washington scientists found that the site is less accurate than the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) flu surveillance programs. From 2003 to 2008, Google Flu Trends accurately predicted ...

Usually when we're getting spammed and scammed by fake online pharmacies, we're being offered steep discounts on Viagra. But Russian gangs are turning their attention from 79-percent Pfizer discounts to offers for Tamiflu, the antiviral medication used to combat both the seasonal and swine flu. Security firm Sophos claims to have intercepted hundreds of millions of fake flu-related spam ...

Having conquered general Web searches, e-mail, video, and advertising, Google is now trying to become a one-stop repository for all your flu information needs. You can already look up information about general flu trends, and track outbreaks of the swine flu, so it only makes sense that the next step would pertain to prevention. Google has partnered with the Department of Health and Human ...

Leave it to Google to come up with a way to help combat the spread of disease with nothing more than some search terms and an armada of computers. The folks at the Google Predict and Prevent team discovered, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), that there was a direct correlation between searches for flu related terms and symptoms. The CDC already collects data ...