Correlation between reported human infection with avian influenza A H7N9 virus and cyber user awareness: what can we learn from digital epidemiology?

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Int J Infect Dis. 2014 Feb 24. pii: S1201-9712(13)00377-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2013.11.013. [Epub ahead of print]
Correlation between reported human infection with avian influenza A H7N9 virus and cyber user awareness: what can we learn from digital epidemiology?
Xie T1, Yang Z1, Yang S1, Wu N1, Li L2.
Author information
Abstract

Data on the topic of novel avian influenza A (H7N9) were collected based on the web analysis tool 'Baidu Index', a major Chinese search engine. We found a positive correlation between the volume of H7N9-related 'cyber user awareness' and the epidemic situation during the H7N9 outbreak in China (r=0.98, p<0.01, cumulative; r=0.43, p=0.018, daily) except in the early stage; the ranks of H7N9-related topics changed at different epidemic stages. This study may improve our understanding of the role of web-based media in infectious disease surveillance in China.

Copyright ? 2014. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
KEYWORDS:

Avian influenza, Cyber user awareness, Epidemiology, Public health policy, Social networks

PMID:
24576842
[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24576842