20 Essential Web Apps to Monitor Disease Outbreaks

For many healthcare professionals, keeping up with disease outbreaks just makes good sense for both home and work. Knowing what’s going on in your area can help you keep yourself safe at work, help you spot potential victims of outbreaks when you see them and can also help you keep your family healthy. Here are 20 web apps that can help you track disease outbreaks.

For Your iPhone

  1. Outbreaks Near Me: This application is based on health map and is being used regularly by medical professionals to track the H1N1 flu outbreaks. The application was created by researchers at Children’s Hospital in Boston with help from MIT. This app is also available for the Android.
  2. Mobile World Disaster: Mobile World Disaster can keep you updated on world disasters, like hurricanes and floods, as well as on disease outbreaks. This application is great not only for keeping up with disease outbreaks and weather issues in your own area, but for checking out places you’re planning to travel to.
  3. Swine Flu News Tracker: Specifically designed to track outbreaks of the H1N1 virus, this application has been unbelievably helpful over the past two flu seasons. It uses the same technology as Mobile World Disaster, but has been tailored to tracking the H1N1 virus.
  4. Influenza (H1N1) Tracker: Much like Swine Flu News Tracker, this application is specifically for informing about H1N1. This app breaks information down by country. However, within the US, you can also get it broken down by state, and includes the assessment level offered by the World Health Organization.
  5. FDA Mobile: Information on this app comes directly from the US Food and Drug Administration. This application delivers disease outbreak information straight to your phone, as well as allowing you to search for other information from the FDA, such as food warnings and drug interactions. You can even find out when the latest medical treatments and devices get FDA approval.
  6. CDC News Reader: This is all the outbreak information you need to know, straight from the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Essentially, it sends you the latest news reports coming out of the CDCm, including disease outbreaks, emergency preparedness and travel notices.
  7. PEPID Tracker: You’ll find out all the disease related information you need to know with this iPhone application. This is a great application for people who travel, because you can see what’s going on in the part of the world you’re traveling to. This application is also available for your Android and your Palm Pre.
  8. Swine Flu Tracker: Another application designed primarily for H1N1 flu tracking. This app is aimed at travelers, and uses Google maps to display where the swine flu outbreaks have occurred. It also tracks where the flu is believed to be going.
  9. The Swine Flu Tracker: This app was created by Garafa, the GPS developer, and aimed at the H1N1 predicted epidemic from last year. However, it is not limited to tracking Swine Flu outbreaks.
  10. iEmergency: This app is really designed to help you after you’ve come down with an illness or had another emergency medical situation. You can store your allergies and other pertinent emergency information on your phone. If your phone is password protected, you can display a lock banner with your info.

For Your Android

  1. Control of Communicable Diseases Manual: Primarily aimed at healthcare professionals, this app includes the latest on identifying, managing, and preventing hundreds of infectious diseases, as well as public health news feeds and links to journal abstracts and citations. This is the most widely recognized reference for public health workers.
  2. Pathology and Disease: This application is a great way to learn more about the diseases that you find are spreading. It allows you to learn all about disease processes. This is a great application for all healthcare professionals.
  3. Infectious Diseases: This application for your Android is a great teaching too for helping users learn more about communicable diseases.
  4. : This application will give you all the information you need to ensure you’re prepared in the event of a flu pandemic.
  5. Infections: This app is another great tool for learning all about infectious diseases, such as symptoms, treatments and mortality rates.
  6. Travel Advisory Alerts: This application is the perfect one for travelers. It quickly updates you on all travel alerts, including disease outbreaks where you’re traveling.
  7. Health News: Get all the health news you need including alerts about disease outbreaks with this android app.

For Your Blackberry

  1. Flu Radar: Keep track of what’s going on this flu season with this app for your Blackberry.
  2. My Personal Health Record: Keep all of your personal health information in one convenient place, so that when you get sick from the flu or another communicable disease while traveling, your physician will have everything he needs.

For your Palm Pre

  1. Profile MD: This is a great personal health record for your phone. You can keep your allergies, drugs and any medical alert information right at your fingertips.