Established in 2011, Flu Near You, now Outbreaks Near Me, is an online participatory surveillance tool used to track influenza-like illnesses in the United States and Canada. Any individual, 13 years of age or older, living in the United States or Canada can register to complete brief weekly surveys and report their flu symptoms online or through the Flu Near You smartphone application. Collected data helps map influenza-like illnesses (ILI) and provides a collective understanding of the flu at local, state, regional, and national levels.
The tool demonstrated a high degree of correlation with the CDC’s Influenza-Like Illness Network (ILINet) surveillance system in both timing and magnitude of ILI rates. During the 2015–16 influenza season, a prototype dashboard was created for public health departments and researchers to track ILI locally. The Skoll Global Threats Fund (SGTF) hosted two EpiHacks, EpiHack™ Denver in 2016 and EpiHack™ Minneapolis in 2015, analyzing how best to use and integrate Flu Near You data into public health department workflows across the United States.