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Volume 16, Number 10—October 2010
Letter

Internet Search Limitations and Pandemic Influenza, Singapore

Alex R. CookComments to Author , Mark I.C. Chen, and Raymond Tzer Pin Lin
Author affiliations: Author affiliations: National University of Singapore, Singapore (A.R. Cook, M.I.C. Chen, R.T.P. Lin); Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore (M.I.C. Chen); Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, Singapore (M.I.C. Chen); Ministry of Health, Singapore (R.T.P. Lin)

Main Article

Figure

Number of Google searches conducted for “influenza” (black lines) and “H1N1” (gray lines) compared with number of acute respiratory infections (ARI, gray bars) reported in government clinics, Singapore, 2009. During the outbreak of pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Google search activity surged in response to newsworthy events (the World Health Organization [WHO] alert, first importation and unlinked local case, release of vaccine) but dropped substantially by the time most infections occurred in August. Ot

Figure. Number of Google searches conducted for “influenza” (black lines) and “H1N1” (gray lines) compared with number of acute respiratory infections (ARI, gray bars) reported in government clinics, Singapore, 2009. During the outbreak of pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Google search activity surged in response to newsworthy events (the World Health Organization [WHO] alert, first importation and unlinked local case, release of vaccine) but dropped substantially by the time most infections occurred in August. Other search patterns, such as for “swine flu” and simplified Chinese language terms for swine flu and influenza, were similarly disassociated with actual disease incidence.

Main Article

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