ProCPR Blog

Swine Flu has begun a quick spread and has been spreading at an insane rate. While the CDC website hasn’t yet been updated to reflect this, the news says that the number of reported cases in the United States has doubled today, from twenty to forty. It’s something that we all want to be able to track to make sure that we stay safe from the reaches of Swine Flu.

Thus, I’ve created a list of ways that you can keep track of Swine Flu online, as well as other flus, if you’d like to. It’s not a list that is exclusive to Swine Flu.

1) Check the World Health Organization’s Disease Outbreak News page and the CDC

This page provides the latest information on any and all disease outbreaks.  At the time of this writing, however, they are a little bit behind, as the latest update was yesterday, with the following:

26 April 2009 – As of 26 April 2009, the United States Government has reported 20 laboratory confirmed human cases of swine influenza A/H1N1 (8 in New York, 7 in California, 2 in Texas, 2 in Kansas and 1 in Ohio). All 20 cases have had mild Influenza-Like Illness with only one requiring brief hospitalization. No deaths have been reported. All 20 viruses have the same genetic pattern based on preliminary testing. The virus is being described as a new subtype of A/H1N1 not previously detected in swine or humans.

However, it had a link to a page devoted to Swine Flu, and the spread.

Be sure to also keep track on the Center for Disease Control website. This is especially important for those that travel often.  It is kept up to date fairly well (updated usually within hours, as they verify facts. Check the CDC page for Swine Flu here!

2) Use Google Flu Trends and News Alerts

Although Google Flu Trends hasn’t been updated to include specific flu trends, such as Swine Flu, it is still helpful in tracking influenza around the country.  I personally think that they should include map updates based on types of flu.  Google, get on that!

News Alerts can send you e-mail, update your RSS feed, and other sorts of things.  That way, you don’t even have to go out to Google News to get Google News.  It can come right to you!

3) Check the HealthMap to see the Spread

This is something that I have only recently discovered.  According to their about page: HealthMap brings together disparate data sources to achieve a unified and comprehensive view of the current global state of infectious diseases and their effect on human and animal health. This freely available Web site integrates outbreak data of varying reliability, ranging from news sources (such as Google News) to curated personal accounts (such as ProMED) to validated official alerts (such as World Health Organization). Through an automated text processing system, the data is aggregated by disease and displayed by location for user-friendly access to the original alert. HealthMap provides a jumping-off point for real-time information on emerging infectious diseases and has particular interest for public health officials and international travelers.

4) Remain Calm, and Keep yourself informed

Don’t make yourself a victim.  Keep calm and keep informed of things happening around the world.  It’s easier than ever to keep up on health news, and we’re just hoping to help you a little bit each day.

-photo credit: Examiner

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 12:54 pm and is filed under Health and Safety, Outbreak. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.