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Web Has Changed Disease Detection For The Better

By PritzkerLaw

More than a month before the peanut butter Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak was ever publicly announced , computer programs at Google were tracking clearly defined spikes in consumer searches for information about "Salmonella," "Diarrhea,'' "Recall'' and "Peanut Butter.''

Researchers writing for the New England Journal of Medicine used the example to illustrate just how critical the Internet has become in improving early disease detection.

The research paper by John S. Brownstein, Clark C. Freifeld and Dr. Lawrence C. Madoff said that mining the web has become a critical medium for clinicians and public health practitioners in reducing the time it takes to recognize an outbreak of health threats such as food poisoning and the flu.

Even bloggers are counted by the authors as being beneficial to the overall scheme -- something the food poisoning attorneys at Pritzker Olsen Attorneys already knew. The firm publishes this blog and others with fresh information for the general public about outbreaks involving E. coli 0157:H7, Salmonella, Listeria, Campylobacter, Shigella and other foodborne illnesses.

For instance, Pritzker Olsen this week announced it is investigating claims of a possible E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in the Upper Midwest that could possibly be related to lettuce. Victims are being asked to contact the firm at 1-888-377-8900 or submit a form for a free case consultation.

Full post as published by Food Poisoning Law Blog on May 21, 2009 (boomark / email).