Early Outbreak Warnings Via Twitter Sought by U.S. Agencies
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Whooping cough first sickened the Illinois high school cheerleaders, then it struck the football players, the cross-country team and the band.
As it spread within the Chicago suburb of McHenry County in late 2011, another outbreak took place -- on social media. A small business called Sickweather LLC said it detected the online flare-up on Twitter Inc. and Facebook Inc. postings in early October that year. That’s about two weeks before local health officials issued a public statement.