Google has found that certain search terms are good indicators of flu activity. Google Flu Trends uses aggregated Google search data to estimate flu activity in your state up to two weeks faster than traditional systems
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For those of us who qualify as chronically ill or elderly; i.e., at high risk during flu season, there is also a "Flu Shot Locator", which works by ZIP Code and tells you how far you are from the nearest flu shot.
This is an excellent example of an "unintended consequence" from Google's enormous user base. I expect we'll be seeing more "mashups" of this type.
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