Using Google search queries as an early indicator of flu outbreak trends. The graph shows the close match between 5 years of flu queries against the CDC’s influenza data.
It turns out that traditional flu surveillance systems take 1-2 weeks to collect and release surveillance data, but Google search queries can be automatically counted very quickly. By making our flu estimates available each day, Google Flu Trends may provide an early-warning system for outbreaks of influenza.
