Social media for tracking epidemics

Infectious disease outbreaks cause death, disability and financial hardship. It is estimated that the outbreak of SARS cost the global economy US$54 billion. Can social media tools help to track diseases, spread news and offer guidance quickly to places in need?  This article by C Raina MacIntyre from the University of New South Wales was published inThe Conversation this week: Social media for tracking disease oubreaks - fad or way or the future?.

The author argues that there are great possibilites but we need well-constructed algorithms, thoughtful human analysis and expert interpretation of the data.