H1N1=wash your hands
Doug introduced me to Google Alerts a few weeks ago and my email inbox hasn’t been the same since. I get approximately 50-100 email hits on handwashing everyday. Most of them are relevant to washing hands, but some are about handwashing clothes and dishes.
The reason for sharing my numerous emails: wash your hands.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently announced raising the alert level to phase 6, the pandemic phase. The severity of the virus, H1N1, is moderate, claims the WHO. Across the world there are newly suspected cases of so-called swine flu. In the US alone, there have been 17,800 confirmed cases, 1600 hospitalized, and 44 deaths; all are attributed to H1N1 flu.
Every reported case in the news or other blogs is typically accompanied with a campaign for their readers to wash their hands. I, of course, couldn’t pass up the opportunity to inform BarfBlog readers to do the same.
Handwashing can reduce sickness by an estimated 25%. Hands should be washed before and after handling food, using the bathroom, coughing, sneezing, and blowing ones nose. Also, people should avoid touching their face (eyes, nose, and mouth) to reduce their risk.
Google Flu Trends - early warning system for foodborne illness outbreaks?
Google Flu Trends is a new Web tool that Google.org, the company’s philanthropic unit, unveiled on Tuesday, just as flu season was getting under way in the United States.
The N.Y. Times reports that Google Flu Trends is based on the simple idea that people who are feeling sick will probably turn to the Web for information, typing things like “flu symptoms” or “muscle aches” into Google. The service tracks such queries and charts their ebb and flow, broken down by regions and states.
Early tests suggest that the service may be able to detect regional outbreaks of the flu a week to 10 days before they are reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
We’ve thought of doing something like this with surveillance of foodborne illnesss, or even restaurant inspection and complaints. But we don’t have the resources of Google.
Google Flu Trends (www.google.org/flutrends) is the latest indication that the words typed into search engines like Google can be used to track the collective interests and concerns of millions of people, and even to forecast the future.
