Monitoring influenza activity in Europe with Google Flu Trends: comparison with the findings of sentinel physician networks – results for 2009-10

The correlation between the Google Flu Trends tool and sentinel networks estimates in several European countries during the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic was examined and found a good correlation between estimates and peak incidence timing.

Abstract

The number of Internet searches has recently been used by Google to estimate the influenza incidence in the United States. We examined the correlation between the Google Flu Trends tool and sentinel networks estimates in several European countries during the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic and found a good correlation between estimates and peak incidence timing, with the highest peaks in countries where Internet is most frequently used for health-related searching. Although somehow limited, Google could be a valuable tool for syndromic surveillance.