Google launches tool for early dengue outbreak detection

Search engine giant Google yesterday launched a surveillance tool in Singapore that aims to provide the public with early warning signs of a dengue outbreak.

Called the Google Dengue Trend, it does so by tracking the popularity of dengue-related search terms - including words related to dengue symptoms - on a daily basis, as an indication of dengue activity in Singapore.

Data for such dengue-related search terms ( via http://www.google.org/denguetrends/sg/#SG) is available as far back as 2005.

According to Google Southeast Asia manager for corporate communications Therese Lim, the search term trends have a "high level of correlation" to the actual number of dengue cases logged over the same period based on official estimates.

In a statement, Google said that "even if not every person who searches for 'dengue' is actually sick, a pattern emerges when all the dengue-related search queries are added together".

The tool is also available in four other countries, including Indonesia and India.

Other dengue-tracking tools in Singapore include OneMap, an online interactive map launched last year by the Singapore Land Authority, which provides data on the latest dengue clusters on the island based on updates from the National Environment Agency.

■単語
dengue
[名][U]デング熱：熱帯の感染病.

Outbreak
[名]

1 （戦争・火事・悪疫などの）突発((of ...))；（感情などの）爆発；突然の出現［発生］；（害虫などの）急激な増加

the outbreak of war
戦争のぼっ発

the typhoid outbreak
腸チフスの発生.

2 暴動，一揆(いっき).

Surveillance
[名][U]

1 （被疑者・囚人などの）監視，見張り；監査，査察

put ... under surveillance
…を監視のもとに置く

multilateral surveillance
（国際的な政策協調における）多角的監視.

2 監督.

Symptom
[形]〈人が〉（病気の）（自覚）症状のない.