Health officials may be able to use knowledge of these trends as an early indicator of emerging health issues and a warning of public health emergencies in a community.
According to HHS, the winning app will use open-source Twitter data to deliver a list of top trending illnesses over a 24-hour period in a specified geographic region. Ideally, federal agencies could then cross-reference the data with traditional biosurveillance systems to build a baseline of trends, determine emerging public health threats and advise the public on how to protect their health.
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