Researchers from Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston have released the results of a study that found analyzing Wikipedia data can track influenza outbreaks faster than the traditional methods used by the Centers for Disease Control and more accurately than Google Flu Trends data.
For the study, researchers analyzed influenza-related Wikipedia article view data and influenza-like illness information from the CDC for 294 weeks from December 2007 to August 2013.
The researchers found tracking hits to the articles on Wikipedia provided a "reliable estimate" of influenza-like illness activity up to two weeks sooner than the data from the CDC, which is based on the number of patients with symptoms reported by physicians across the country.
The researchers also compared the Wikipedia article hits method of tracking influenza outbreaks to Google Flu Trends, which uses Google search terms that are correlated with influenza-like illness activity to track influenza outbreaks.
The researchers found the Wikipedia tracking data provided accurate estimates the week of peak influenza activity 17 percent more often than Google Flue Trends data, and the Wikipedia data more accurately measured influenza-like illness intensity.
The authors of the study commented, "Each influenza season provides new challenges and uncertainties to both the public as well as the public health community. We're hoping that with this new method of influenza monitoring, we can harness publicly available data to help people get accurate, near-real-time information about the level of disease burden in the population."
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