Flu Season: how to track the flu and see where it's most active right now.

September 24, 8:40 AMCleveland Holistic Family Health ExaminerBeth Richards

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For years, the flu has been tracked by the CDC.  It's been helpful; the only problem has been that their data was several weeks old.  Even now, they're still running about two to three weeks behind.  But along comes Google's Flu Tracker, called Flu Trends, and this free service gives an accurate depiction of flu activity based on specific word searches.

In fact, Flu Trends may be a little more accurate than the CDC site.  Both sites are tracking all flus, and with the predominance in H1N1 (Swine) Flu and concern about the vaccine, the Google flu tool may be the one you want to use to see exactly where the flu is most active.  Right now for Cleveland and Ohio, the activity is listed as "moderate" on Google and "regional" on the CDC.   I'd go with Google.

Photo:  Google Flu Trends/B. Richards