conFLUence Flu News You Can Use By Melissa Kelley
Influenza (the flu) Highly contagious respiratory infection caused by influenza viruses On average annually in the U.S, 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu (15-60 million people) Over 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu complications About 23,600 people die from the flu- related causes
Project Conceptualization Initial vision: CDC Challenge (risk communication) Change in plans: – XML feed issues – Lack of real-time data Site for officials and emergency managers in pre-event and beginning of emergency phase – Understand potential community risks and capacity – Understand risks and capacity of other locals
Data Sources CDC website provided data in Excel, XML, RSS, and JSON formats Health Indicator Warehouse and US Census Bureau provided health and relevant demographic data in Excel or Shapefile formats Health Indicator Warehouse, Medline and CDC APIs for integrating additional flu information (XML, RESTful, SOAP) Darthmouth Atlas of Health Care Free/ open source resources
Site Functionalities Interactive: Find hospitals, doctors or pharmacies near you; zoom to your location Custom features: Local places API, drop down menus Layers: multiple layers with a legend and custom display New pages: help page and informational page
Site (Dys)Functionalities
The Site
Future Vision Incorporate XML dynamic feed Incorporate remotely queried Health Indicator Warehouse Broaden the applicability to multiple audiences (one stop shop) – Public – Practitioners – Researchers – Media
Thanks!