Google launches Dengue Trends tool to track outbreaks

"Google has launched Dengue Trends, a tool that aims to detect dengue fever outbreaks around the world using the same methodology behind Google Flu Trends," PC Magazine reports (Yin, 5/31). The tool, which "is part of Google Correlate, a new service which connects search analysis with data collected in real life," "hopes to develop an early-warning system by monitoring dengue-related search terms by users in Bolivia, Brazil, India, Indonesia and Singapore," BBC News writes (5/31). The methodology of the tool is described in an article in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, google.org blog reports (Sahai, 5/30).