If you"ve not already heard, the entire world currently has all eyes on deck on an outbreak of the H1N1 Swine Flu. Researchers are still not calling this outbreak a pandemic, but if you"ve been following the hashlink on Twitter you"ve probably seen a huge amount of panic. As this virus continues to spread around the world, there are three tools to help you keep up-to-date with information.
View H1N1 Swine Flu in a larger map
The above is a Google Map created by Biomedical Research and is one of the fastest ways to track the spreading of the virus. Click here to view the larger size of the map.
The second tool is to check the WHO (World Health Organization) website. The WHO is the leading source for information and news regarding any major epidemic health outbreaks. They also have a RSS feed for those tech-savvy folks.
The third and probably the most useful tool to stay up-to-date where this outbreak is occurring is a map provided by Health Map. The map aggregates news feeds from the WHO, Google News, ProMED, Euro Surveillance, and the Wildlife Disease Node.
At the time of posting at least 90 cases have been confirmed worldwide, including 50 in the United States, six in Canada, three in New Zealand, two each in Spain and the United Kingdom, and one in Israel. With at least 11 other countries suspecting infections, the World Health Organization has raised its alert level from three to four on its six-level scale.