Katie Couric's Notebook: Google The Flu
Video: A new site, Google.org/flutrends, keeps track of search terms like "flu symptoms" or "muscle aches" and produces a map highlighting places where more people are downloading flu information.
A check of the site today shows flu activity is low in most of the nation, but a little higher in Mississippi, Maine, Delaware and Hawaii.
Google thinks it can detect regional outbreaks a week to 10 days before they're reported to the CDC. Last winter, for example, there were more searches about the flu in mid Atlantic states two weeks before the government reported a spike in cases there.
Doctors say this could save lives. We can wash our hands more and take other precautions if we know flu is spreading. With 30 or 40 million case each year, that's nothing to sneeze at.