Swine Flu Searches Jump 20 Fold From A Week Ago
In the last week of April, Swine Flu searches jumped more than 1,900 percent versus the previous week. Data compiled by comScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, revealed that 501,000 people conducted 929,000 searches related to the swine flu during the week ending April 26th, 2009. ComScore also observed 271 different advertiser with paid search inventory against these search terms, up from just 73 the previous week and 33 the week before that.
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) there have been 226 confirmed laboratory cases of the swine flu in the United States (As of May 3rd, 2009 11AM ET) and 1 confirmed death in Texas. CDC continues to take aggressive action to respond to an expanding outbreak caused by novel H1N1 flu. The CDC goals are to Reduce transmission and illness severity, and provide information to help health care providers, public health officials and the public address the challenges posed by this emergency.
Yesterday, the CDC completed deployment of 25 percent of the supplies in the Strategic National Stockpile to every state in the United States. These supplies and medicines will help states and U.S. territories respond to the outbreak. In addition, the Federal Government and manufacturers have begun the process of developing a vaccine against the novel H1N1 flu virus.
Tracking The Swine Flu Online
There are a few sites that we know of that can be used to track the Swine Flu. Below are a few of them that we found to be useful:
FluTracker - This site uses Google Maps to pinpoint 'hot spots' where outbreaks have taken place. It also indicates number of cases and number of deaths on the Google Maps interface. This is a very good way to see cases near where you live and to keep track of the epidemic.
CDC - Our own Centers of Disease Control and Prevention web site has a great number of resources and also a 'confirmed' sheet of cases and deaths in the United States.
Google FluTrends - Google has a flutrends map that shows flu activity in the United States and now Mexico.
What Is Swine Influenza? (Flu)
The flu is a serious contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. Millions of people in the United States get the flu each year. Most people are sick for about a week. Some people (especially young children, pregnant women, older people, and people with chronic health problems) can get very sick and may die from the flu. The Swine Flu refers to influenza caused by those strains of influenza virus that usually infect pigs and are called swine influenza virus (SIV). The Swine Flu comes from pigs via transmission to humans. When transmission results in influenza in a human, it is called zoonotic swine flu. People who work with pigs, especially people with intense exposures, are at risk of catching swine flu.
Swine Flu Symptoms
Typical symptoms include fever, cough, and sore thought. A virus infection include; vomiting, diarrhea, headache, chills, and fatigue. Severe disease include pneumonia and respiratory failure.
