Jul. 20, 2012

Using Twitter to Put Disease Outbreaks on the Map

by A. Tomasulo, C. Freifeld, J. Brownstein

Many of the millions of people who visit London for the Olympics might bring home more than just souvenirs, since mass gatherings are an opportunity for travelers to swap infectious diseases. The founders of HealthMap explain how monitoring online discussions in all kinds of forums--from news feeds to Twitter--can lead to early detection of disease outbreaks, thereby giving health officials a chance to quickly respond to imminent epidemics.