The emergence of new influenza strains including H1N1, H5N1, H3N2v as well as other respiratory pathogens such as SARS, along with generally weak information about household and community transmission of influenza, enforce the need for augmented influenza surveillance. At the same time, Internet penetration and access has grown, with 82% of American adults using the Internet, enabling transfer and communication of information that can be collected and aggregated in near real-time. Surveillance targeted towards influenza in other countries, and towards malaria in India, has previously been executed with good user engagement. In this study, we created an online participatory influenza surveillance tool in the United States, called Flu Near You.
Objective
To develop a participatory system for monitoring the activity of influenza-like-illness among the United States general population.