April 29, 2009
Google.org Helps Track Swine Flu
Google.org, the charitable arm of the technology company, is trying to help track the spread of swine flu in Mexico.
Using a program that tracks Google searches for flu-related topics, the group is providing an “experimental” snapshot of how swine flu is spreading in Mexico, say Jeremy Ginsberg and Matt Mohebbi, software engineers at the Mountain View, Calif., company.
“While we would prefer to validate this data and improve its accuracy, we decided to release an early version today so that it might help public-health officials and concerned individuals get an up-to-date picture of the ongoing swine flu outbreak,” they write on Google.org’s blog.
While cases of the new flu are relatively low in the United States, the engineers say they are keeping an eye on flu-related Internet searches for any “spike in activity.”
What are other charitable groups doing in response to swine flu?
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