Have you had your flu shot yet?  Now is the time to think about making a visit to your local clinic or Doctors office for the small moment of pain that will help you fight off the flu this winter season.  This, in addition to other forms of prevention such as hand washing will, help to keep you and your family a bit healthier this year.

Thanks to the wonders of Google search engine technology there is now an additional way to not only fight but monitor flu outbreaks in the United States.  I learned about this new development today via Deane at Gagetopia. 

Also from the New York Times:

There is a new common symptom of the flu, in addition to the usual aches, coughs, fevers and sore throats. Turns out a lot of ailing Americans enter phrases like “flu symptoms” into Google and other search engines before they call their doctors.

That simple act, multiplied across millions of keyboards in homes around the country, has given rise to a new early warning system for fast-spreading flu outbreaks, called Google Flu Trends.

Simply put: just way cool.