The Flu Season (Yes, For Newbies, This Is Not About The Bakken)

I had forgotten all about this site. It was one of my favorites some years ago, and then for some reason I forgot about it.

In the military, we tracked influenza very, very closely -- it was one malady that could devastate an entire military unit in a short period of time. The military data, based on laboratory samples of folks coming to the clinic, was pretty good, but a bit delayed.

Some years ago, Google thought of trending, using available data that was already out there, and came up with their own flu monitoring site. It's really quite remarkable.

At the link, is the United States, but the site has the entire world. Everything points to a severe flu season this year (see this WSJ link).

The google map/trend suggests the same thing. Again, lotsa fun. Enjoy.