Google Search Tracks Flu Outbreaks Throughout U.S.

According to The Guardian, Google has launched Google Flu Trends to track flu outbreaks throughout the United States. This service will take advantage of the company's data collecting power and estimates that it will be able to identify possible flu outbreaks up to two weeks earlier than other services. It will track where in the U.S. people are googling search terms such as "flu symptoms" and "chest congestion" to indicate that an outbreak is imminent.

As far as I can tell, this is the first instance of a search engine being used to track illnesses.