Yesterday, Google, Inc. unveiled the newest service from Google.org, the philanthropic side of Google. The new service? Flu Trends - a free Web service that uses aggregated information from searches that contain 'flu-like' keywords - 'cough', 'fever' and 'muscle aches', to name a few - to predict the outbreak of the flu. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal both published articles today that provide a bit more information on the service.

As shown in the New York Times graph below (click the image to enlarge), Google Flu Trends showed great similarity to the reports by the US Centers for Disease Control - but often up to 10 days earlier. Using services such as Google Flu Trends (Yahoo has also reported accuracy in early flu detection) could help with earlier prevention and fewer cases of influenza, which causes an average of 36,000 deaths annually.

Flu Trends is a great example of the benefits of the interaction between the web and health care when the right data is used in the right way. While many doctors bemoan the fact that their patients come in full of information they gleaned from the web - some accurate, some not - perhaps this shows that by using the 'wisdom of the masses' (or at least the actions of the masses) we may be able to make more informed decisions with better forecasting. Expansions of this service could greatly benefit the public in numerous ways. There is particular potential for this service if applied to other illnesses - especially those with low rates of being reported to health professionals - such as STD's.

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