Google tracks the flu - KTRE.com | Lufkin and Nacogdoches, Texas

Google tracks the flu

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(KLTV) -

Google is doing its part in tracking the spread of influenza across the country and the world.

The search engine has launched a multi-language flu tracker online plots the spread of the virus.

The tracker uses search data through Google to estimate activity. According to the trends website, they have "found a close relationship between how many people search for flu-related topics and how many people actually have flu symptoms."

Google said they have compared their search data with the actual count in national flu surveillance and the trends tend to match during flu season.

Google Flu Trends said their search data cannot be used to identify individuals saying on their website "we rely on anonymized, aggregated counts of how often certain search queries occur each week."

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